my instinct is his buddy is more of a 1/3 player and plays 2/5 when he can but eventually is back at 1/3 (either due to losing or life expenses) and has talked OP into this.

Either way, too late to back out now, its been hyped. An honest assessment from your buddy, assuming he isn't quite ready for this level, could be an interesting read if the 1/2 warriors can keep themselves from attempting to criticize everything trying to feel superior

First off thanks all of you for the well wishes. I talked to my dude today and he sounds as pumped as I am. We have decided that win, lose or draw everything will be settled up cash wise on Monday and believe it or not, I proposed this to him. The least that we will get out of it, and I hope you do as well, is some sweat equity and some entertainment value. The 48 hour countdown till first session has begun. Let's get it!

hahaha... ah man, that's cold dude!

dude just merked a warmup session at the wynn. feeling good about tonight. stay tuned for details on outcome from session 1 5-10nl at bellagio

glmate

Looking forward to this!

Well, session one didn't start Friday night... but it is currently in process. He sat at a new table that opened at 9 am 9 handed and noticed one pro, Gabriel Thaler, in the game. Hand #2 my dude is dealt AA and 3bets an open of 30 to 70 and the opener called. Flop was 567, opener checks, my dude bets 60, opener calls. Turn was a 4, opener leads 100, my dude calls. River 3, check check. Opener showed down J high and they chop it up.
He hasn't really updated me with much other than that he has gotten AA once and KK twice in his first hour of play. He recently got moved to the main game running and has 1100 in front from initial 1000 buyin. I'll see if I can get some more details on the hands but I def don't want to distract him while he is playing.

Lol this is great

Man, I thought I spotted you guys at about 5am for sure. Guy with another dude practically in his lap sweating him.

Kid had a bunch of chips too and the game looked good minus Chau Giang who has been playing non stop lately and there was nothing going upstairs.

Oh Well

My dude just called in (no i'm not sweating from the rail). He said his table image is ridiculous right now. He is 4 hours at this main game table and has about 1400 in front. The first hand he 3 bet at the main game was KJ off which the opener called the 3 bet. The flop came down JT6, a guy lead into him and he raised the flop and the guy folded QQ face up! Anyways, we discussed how long he should play for his first session and we thought 4-5 hours, but the game is good, he is feeling comfortable, and we missed last nights session so he is gonna play a little longer.

He must've been aware of his "image" beforehand, otherwise: why?

Eagerly awaiting a more extensive report!

I don't know how in depth I can make it, but thanks. Maybe I can incorporate him in the recap if he wants. All I'm getting from my dude is periodic chip stack updates. Then occasionally he will send me a hand he played. He sent me a text saying he just got coolered. AQ vs AJ on A92 flop, my dude check raises the flop to 100, then leads the turn for 160 and the guy calls. River a J and my dude check folds and the guy shows AJ. 1300ish in front now.

Were you the guys like a week ago watching the game and saying stuff like "this is the game I'm gonna play in a week" "look at all this money going around"? Those aren't exact quotes because I can't remember very well. This thread/idea is awesome.

the term my dude is being used way too often

There were a couple factors that played into it. 1) I was tired of my buddy grinding 1-3 nl as he has been doing for years. In my honest opinion, I know he is capable to play bigger. He works though and that has him travelling most of the year. 2) I am stuck in Tallahassee and wanted to be in on the action that he has in Vegas. 3) While procrastinating from studying I was trolling "Another kid, another dream" and felt inspired that he should take a shot at the 5-10 nl Bellagio. 4) This is just a trial thing where we pool our resources. If it works out, we are likely to do it again assuming he wants me to help bankroll him. If it didn't work out we prob wouldn't do it again and there would be no hard feelings obviously. We go way back so I was sure of that much. We may extend this through Sunday, not sure. Will have a chat with him after he completes the session.

Currently he has 1750 in front. Has taken some beats, and gotten some good value out of hands. He limped KK utg, along with a couple more limpers, cutoff raised to 40, sb made it 160, he 4-bet to 400, and everyone folded out. Fast forward to a AQ hand where he flat calls a 50 open in the blinds. Check raises a 50 cbet on QJ9 board to 230, guy called. Turn T, check check. River 2, check check. AQ no good. Guy had QT.

Why does he keep (check-) raising one pair hands a lot? Seems very weird/bad but maybe we're missing context.

I think he is assuming that the table is gonna cbet wide, so he doesn't want to lead into preflop raiser. I agree that he needs to switch it up and just flat call some of the time, which he has done. He told me that he check called a guy to his left down all three streets with one pair and it was good. The guy was spewing chips and was stuck 3k in his first hour at the table.

Yea seems like he's playing a little too reckless with one pairs on scary boards.

Make sure your friend is aware of "cool long haired guy".

This character frequents the 5-10 Vegas games. 2/5 and everyone will know he can't wait to get in the 5/10. If you spotted a man playing 5/10+, long hair, and is 35+you have spotted CLHG.

1. He will always talk to much.
2. He always thinks people are interested in what he's saying.
3. Usually playing a little to high for whats comfortable
4. part time player-went deep in at least 1 tourney

Please LVL add to my description of CLHG

After 7.5 hours at 5-10 No Limit Holdem at Bellagio my friend managed to run up his stack to as high as 1900 and as low as 875. He cashed in 1523 for a net profit of 523 from session one. Ill post some hands as soon as he decompresses and we have a chat. He will be playing again tomorrow.

A couple hands of interest to me that I wanted to know what you guys think. Keep in mind the image my friend has built up as being tight, solid, check raising frequently.

Hand 1: Effective stacks 1000. A couple limpers to cutoff makes it 40, button calls, my friend in BB with AsKs raises to 230, folds to button who calls. Flop JcTc9x and action gots check check on all streets after a blank on turn and river.

Hand 2: Effective stacks 1500. UTG he limps KK, couple limpers to cutoff makes it 50, folds to sb who makes it 160, folds to my friend who makes it 400, everyone folds.

Hand 3: Effective stacks 1500. 3 limpers to my friend in the bb with KK and raises it to 40, all limpers call. Flop J 7 8 two diamonds, he checks (hoping to check raise) and it checks through. Turn 2s, my friend bets 60 and gets one caller. River Ah and he checks and other player checks back.

On hand 1 I think shutting down is fine. He said he thought about jamming the flop but couldn't realizing that the flop was likely to hit the caller's range.

On hand 2 I like the 4 bet sizing to be bigger rather than smaller. We don't want to induce a cascading call with KK. Maybe a little smaller 350ish but 400 is fine imo.

On hand 3 I think a little bigger preflop 50 or 60. Def bet this flop with 2 diamonds and straight possibilities (again with the check raise I know). The turn is a dream card so I understand why he makes a smaller bet on the turn for value, but again could be a littler bigger since it went 40x4 preflop, basically giving a good price to any pair or draw. River is ok to check back although if the guy had AJ or AdXd then he might have bet the flop, maybe another smaller sized value bet but then again we don't want to get raised out by a river bomb.

Thanks for taking the time to read and participate in this thread. Ill update with session 2 results/hands/thought process the best i can.

three bet to 30 with AA on a 5/10 table... lulz.

Honestly, he sounds donkish. Too much check-raising, limping UTG with KK, all that trickery. I've seen that guy, I know that guy, and I would PUNISH that guy. It's downright amateurish at 5/10.

The AK hand baffles me. Pre flop raise way too big, and then checking thru? Have to take a shot on that flop. Other player could just be set-mining.

Yeah I have to agree. I'm not a midstakes player, but these spots seem pretty clearcut to me.

#1: Raise to 150ish, stab flop, reeval turn
#2: Raise to 35ish pre, reeval
#3: Raise to 55ish, bet flop, bet turn, probably bet river

That's just in a vacuum, I obv have no idea what went on specifically at the table.

OP, I'm curious did your friend play at all last night (Saturday)/this morning between 2am and 9am?

And tell him that limp 4betting KK, check raising one pairs OTF and min 3betting aces are the worst plays possible (sorry if I sound like a ****).