I'm not too sure about other people, but I don't think that way at a limit game. I think allowing yourself to get all in in a limit game is bad strategy and is generally a sign of a poor player (obviously not a universal truth) or someone who is scared of the stakes. Short-stacking NL seems like it can a viable strategy for some but it makes no sense in limit.

When I'm playing limit against someone who is very short-stacked (not enough for a bet on all streets) then I tend to be a little looser than usual because I feel like I can't get punished as much for a mistake. Often it seems that the short stacks just want to raise and get it in and rebuy, so they will often push with weaker hands.

There's not a whole lot of folding in the Ameristar 30/60 so anybody that tries to bet you off your hand is just pissing into the wind.

Not sure what I'm supposed to play with my education? Is PLO only for people with fewer letters after their names? I have been playing a lot of limit HE lately, that seems like it should be the classic nerd poker game, more math than art (except where I play, where it's the favorite of the wacky Asian gamblers).

Like I said, PLO/8 is my favorite, I only play PLO in my Wednesday game (which seems to be in trouble, we haven't been able to get a game going for several weeks now). I always feel like my edge in PLO is very small (or often non-existent), unless I have the nuts I never seem to know where I stand.

a game with the least variance and ROI... I'm just sayin.

I play plo, but I don't have a PhD

8 in a Row

Got to the Ameristar rather late for me on Friday, 730, because of trying to finish up some work commitments so I can go to Vegas next week (look for a trip report in LVL). Had to wait close to 20 minutes for a seat, first available was a 2/5-100 HE. I only played for 30 minutes before my seat at the 30/60 LHE must move opened, I racked up +$214 after turning a flush and getting paid.

As usual, the must-move is much weaker than the two main games. Tonight’s villains include the terrible semi-reg from posts #17 (JJ vs T6o) and #23 (KK vs 55), this guy has never folded a pair in his life; 65 yr old Asian woman, semi-reg but no reads; 65 yr old white guy, huge chaser, if he flops a pair he’s gonna see the river come hell or high water; and young Asian reg, open limps a lot, that means any two suited or connected. There is one fairly strong 30-something Asian reg as well.

No notable hands for a while, but I’m winning a few pots and am up ~$600 before my run-good ends. I flop top two on KQ4 board, capped 3-way on flop, 6 turn, blank river, and I pay off the flop capper’s 87. Same guy, flush over flush, same cap on flop with just a draw and turn bet with draw. Flop top and bottom pairs from BB, c/r flop, get raised on turn and his backdoor straight gets there on river (I probably should not have paid off that river, but I think that was my only small mistake of the night).

In a short while I find myself stuck $500 and sure that my winning streak is about to end. But I slowly grind it back up, win a huge pot (>$1000) with KK (5 handed to the flop, always scary), and I’m back in the black.

Final hand of the night: Hero raises UTG with KK, folds to the 65 yr old Asian woman (OAM) on the button, BB calls. Pot $195. Flop is KJ2. Hero bets, OAM calls. Pot $255. Turn is 3. Bet, call, $375. River is 7. ****, hate losing when I know I’m about to leave. I check/call, she shows a set of 7s. LMAO, I guess she put me on AQ, I thought they always put you on AK (unless an A or K flops). Flip the dealer a red bird, rack up +$1200, and the winning streak continues.

That makes 8 consecutive winning 30/60 sessions and 10 of 11. Don’t think I could do that at 1/2 NLHE!

Vegas on Sunday, staying at the Venetian, if anybody is interested in greyhounds or steaks next week PM me, and thanks for reading.

Education level and enough common sense to avoid the PLO snake pit are uncorrelated!

Any PLO recommendations for Vegas? Bravo says low stakes at Venetian and Aria...

that's pretty much it... Wynn at times later in the evening.

Wild 2/5-100 O/8 Game

I got back from Vegas on Friday night (you can read my TR here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...-20-a-1398506/ , it’s not quite complete as of the writing of this blog update but I hope to complete it later today) and headed up to the Ameristar hoping to recoup some of my losses. A* did not disappoint. It was packed when I got there around 330, I was at the top of the list for 30/60 LHE and only had to wait a few minutes before a seat opened at the must move. Table was the usual loose passive, and I had a big suckout with AQ vs KK to take down a big pot against an unpleasant reg who doesn’t seem to like me. Another big hand comes at the main game when I raise 66 UTG and flop a set on an AK6 board, AQ paid every street, including the c/r on the turn. And I posted a hand in Medium Stakes Limit that I thought was interesting: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/53...-stakes-limit/ Besides the hand that I posted, in which I probably made at least a small mistake, I misplayed one or two additional hands against the loose passive player, so not yet a perfect session. I'm now at 9 consecutive winning sessions at 30/60, 11 of 12, covering a total of 66 hours.

But the real excitement for the night was when I got tired of the 30/60 game (the superloose guy had racked up some massive win, and was replaced by the unpleasant reg) and moved to the 2/5-100 O/8 game. This was by far the wildest game I’ve seen there in recent memory. I knew it was a good sign that several of the regs were missing and there was a lot of money on the table. I sat down and a guy I didn’t recognize is raising every hand, sometimes to 10, sometimes to 15, sometimes to 40. All the pots are 4-5 to a flop, except when they’re 7 to a flop. The guy driving the action was from Florida and here for the Colorado Poker Championships at the Gates, I’m pretty sure he’s a PLO player. I ended up chatting with him when we racked up when the game broke around 1 AM, nice guy.

I won just under $200 in 4 hours despite paying off some big hands. There were probably 4 atrocious players in the game last night, all with lots of money. Here’s a few interesting hands:

I open UTG to $20 with A4Q8. 6 to the flop. Flop is Q8x2. I bet $100 with top two, nut flush draw, and 2nd nut low draw. Solid reg directly on my left calls and fish on the button calls. Pot $420. Turn is K. I bet $100, call, call. Pot $720. River is 9. ****. I check, reg bets, fish folds. I’m virtually certain I’m beat, I can really only beat a bluff, but cannot find the fold button. He shows Ax3JT. FML.

FL guy raises to 15, I call with QQT8ds from hijack, 6 to the flop.
K74r, ckd thru, 9 turn, FL guy bets 30, I call with my straight draw, one caller behind on the button.
River 9, FL guy cks, I bet 100 hoping they fold, folds behind, FL guy tanks calls. I’m sure I lost but nope, he mucks after I show what I thought was a bluff.

I raise 4 limpers to 20 from cutoff with 3456, button calls, 4 calls. Pot $120.
Flop 5x52, bet 100, only 1 caller, total fish who limped UTG. Pot $320
Turn 9, fish ck/call my bet. Pot $520
River Q, ck/fold to my bet.

If the O/8 game stays this crazy i may go back to playing it more often, it was quite the wild ride.

Ten in a Row

This heater is crazy-last night I booked my 10th consecutive winning session at the 30/60 LHE game, 12 of 13, since the beginning of November. It was a very swingy session, and I was stuck ~$800 until the last 90 minutes or so of my nearly 8 hour session. The game was very good, even the main games were relatively weak which is why I played so late (I also know I have other plans for tonight and won’t play). I got run down a few times early (AK vs 76 on a K96r flop, turn 4, river 6) but had a big rundown myself late when I filled up my two pair on the river against a gutshot that hit the turn (KQ vs JT on AK6QQ board). No glaring mistakes, here was an interesting hand.

V1: 20 something guy, new to the table, I’ve played him before and don’t recall any strong impressions
V2: old guy (60s), used to be a reg but I’ve not played with him before, in the last couple of hours he’s open limped several times, seems like he plays too many hands
V3: everyday reg, strong player, not very relevant to this hand

V1 and V2 limp from early position, Hero limps J9 from hijack, button calls, blinds call, including V3 from BB. Pot is $180.
Flop is 865, giving Hero a gutshot and a flush draw. SB checks, V3 bets, V1 raises (!), V2 calls, Hero debates raising versus calling and decides to draw more $$$ into the pot and calls, only V3 calls. My thinking here is that V1 has a wide range of hands here, from a pair and a draw to a made straight. Pot $420.
Turn is 7, V3 checks, V1 bets, V2 calls, Hero calls, V3 folds.
River is 4 putting an 8-high straight on the board. V1 bets, V2 calls, Hero raises his 9-high straight. I think there’s a good chance V1 has the same hand and V2 is playing the board. V1 reraises and V2 folds, Hero just calls. V1 shows T9 for a T-high straight. Nonetheless, I think I played that one okay, maybe I should have raised preflop or on the flop, but I couldn’t put V1 on the only hand that beats me, given the way he played the flop.

Another ~$500ish win to end the year.

Happy New Year everybody, thanks for reading, I hope to continue posting about my heater into 2014!

2014: The Heater Continues

“Success is a menace. It fools smart people into thinking they can't lose.” Bill Gates

I don’t know if Gates actually said this or just in the movies (Pirates of Silicon Valley), but I can see it happening to me. In fact, I would change “fools” to “seduces”-I’m enamored with the 30/60 LHE game now. Last night saw me play fairly badly, run badly in kill pots, and still book a nice win (>$1K in 7 hours). This makes 11 consecutive winning sessions and 13 of 14. This particular session is more of testament to the terrible play of others than to me playing my A game, I almost always get paid off in this game when I make a hand.

I left work a little early because I was slightly frustrated with some of the crap I had to deal with this week, and I was seated at the Ameristar 30/60 must-move around 6. Table was okay, there were a couple of weak spots, but I had a strong reg directly to my left and another solid player that I know a bit from the O/8 game on his left, so I found my raises getting 3-bet reasonably often. I was running bad and playing worse, could not find the fold button against a couple of the bad regs when they checkraised me and I had to be beat.

Here’s an example. This is my first hand at the table, it’s a kill pot (50-100), and I have KK in the cutoff. Folded to me, I raise, folds around to killer who calls. Pot $245. Killer is loose aggressive reg, has never top pair in his life, definitely a losing player, his range here is essentially ATC. Flop is 6x65. Villain checks, Hero bets, Villain calls. Villain has anything from 2 overs, a 6, a 5, a gutshot, flush draw, or a pocket pair. Turn is 8x, ck, bet, raise (!). I should find the fold the button here but can’t. This villain could easily have 87 here. River is 2x, he bets, I call. 76. Crap. Knew I shoulda checked the turn and called the blank river. Hurts worse in a kill pot.

A couple of bad regs came to the table but I couldn’t really get much going, and I continued to play badly (cold call a raise with A3s on button with only one other caller, for example). I did finally start to come back a bit when I got moved to one of the main games. This table was ridiculously juicy. 2-3 solid regs, everyone else either tight-passive or weak-passive except for the villain from previous hand. Definitely a table I can run over. Got lucky a couple of times and cracked AA, once with AJ when I turned the nut flush and once with T9o when I turned trips (I was on button in an unraised pot and AA was in SB). Still played some hands badly, here’s one that I completely butchered.

Hero opens QT from middle position, weak passive guy I’ve never played with before calls from button, both blinds call, they are both terrible chasers, any pair to river. Pot $240. Flop is Kx65x, checked to me and I cbet, 3 calls, LOL. Pot is $360. Turn is 9, checked to me, and I check (?!). This was almost the perfect turn card. I figured button has a K and won’t fold, and I could just call one bet getting the right price. Button bets, now SB raises. Pot is $480, I have to call $120, so I’m getting 4:1 straight up, without even considering that the guy behind me is never folding. Couple my flush draw with the gutshot and this is an easy call. But I was tired and not paying close enough attention and folded. Button calls of course, J on river. Crap. So bad.

I really seem to be bringing my B- game on Fridays but manage to find a way to win nonetheless. If I would show up and play better then who knows how much I would be winning…

Hi ... I grew up in boulder. Born and raised actually. I moved away when you moved there in 96. Anyway... Still get out there a bit. Maybe we can hang at southern sun over a brew and talk about that collusion at the ameristar...

Thanks for the read.

Thanks for reading and posting. The Sun is my local, nitro Kind is my brew with the occasional FYIPA or Crippler mixed in, PM me when you're in town.

Where are you now? I guess growing up here is tough cause it's pretty much all downhill from here, especially if you like outdoor recreation, poker notwithstanding.

very good keep it up.

TyTy, its a bit different from yours, hope you find some happiness in 2014.

Redonkulous Comeback Saves the Streak

Before I get into last night’s crazy session at the Ameristar Black Hawk, my Wednesday home game is back. I’ve not played this since October, some combination of work/travel/holidays. The game is 5/10 PLO/PLO8 (dealer choice) with an optional Mississippi straddle. One of the guys plays almost every hand and will always take the straddle if you refuse (you can straddle from anywhere and action starts to your left, button has first option) and raises about 80% of the time if you just call the straddle. I have never figured out how this guy wins as often as he does, but he is often the big winner and very rarely the big loser. The game was a bit crazy as usual, 4 guys busted out ($1000 minimum initial buy in, after that $500 min, most people are done somewhere between $2-3K) within 90 minutes of starting.

I was up a bit early after getting ¾ when I flopped nut low and a straight holding A258 on 346 flop, crazy straddler (CS) had 25xx and a flush draw, I missed my 7, he missed his flush and we split the high while I took the low. I proceeded to completely butcher the next hand: crazy straddler is in middle position, 2 call from the cutoff and button, I call from SB with T987ds (it’s high only this hand), CS raises to $95, 3 calls including me, pot ~$400. Flop just smashes me: T72r. I check , CS bets $200, cutoff and button both call, and instead of shipping (I have ~$1000 back) I just call, intending to ship any blank turn. Turn is a 2. ****. Pretty much the worst card in the deck, counterfeits my two pair. Checked to cutoff, who ships his last $275, button calls with ~$600 back. I’m pretty sure I’m now behind both of these guys and who knows where I stand with CS. I fold, CS folds. River 7. Double ****. Button shows A2J8 for trips (flopped bottom pair and gutshot, LOL, he’s so bad). I suck at this game, sometimes I wonder why I even bother with the high hands if I’m gonna play them so badly.

Not much later I send one guy home when I raise A236 (hilo this hand), he raises pot from directly to my left, which for him can only mean AAxx. Flop is J52, ck/pot/call, turn is 6 and I ship, he calls with nut flush draw and whiffs and I scoop against AA58.

We played 6 handed for a couple hours, then the game broke and I racked up + ~$1K. Next week some of the guys are threatening to play 40-80 mixed game, which is how I met this group about a year ago. They were getting ready to start learning mixed games at 10-20, and I got invited when I starting talking with the organizer when we were playing together at the casino. I’m not a big fan of Badugi but a few of these guys haven’t met a 2-7 triple draw or razz (or razzdugi) hand that they can fold, so I should do fine.

Now, on to my Friday night session at the Ameristar. I had some visitors at work on Friday and didn’t get there until almost 8. The lists were huge, 4 tables of 30/60 (2 must-moves, 4th table feeds 3rd, which feeds 2 main) and I’m about 10th of the list despite calling in around 45 minutes ago. I end up playing 2/5-100 SLHE for a couple of hours. Two huge fish at my table, one has to wonder why someone will limp/call 40 preflop with 42s, but whatever. I didn’t play particularly well here, pretty aggressive but missed a lot. Finally got called for a 30/60 seat, lost ~$500 at 2/5.

My favorite donkey was waiting for me tonight, there were a couple of fairly bad players but it was surprisingly solid for the 4th table. I thought I was playing okay, sufficiently aggressive but missed a lot of flops with big cards, missed my OESFD in a kill pot, and just a bit unlucky against the two biggest fishes (KJ < K8 on KQ9 flop, 8 turn; AQ < KQ on Q high flop, K turn; I make my straight on the river on a paired board and lose to full house).

When they finally called me for the 3rd table I was stuck ~$2K, out of cash, and down to ~$300. At first I told the floor I was gonna pick up and just lick my wounds, I have a stop-loss at $1500 that I have always before obeyed, but then I said, wtf, and took the seat. I was down to ~$120 when I raised middle position with A9o, get two calls in position and the BB calls. Q8x flop, I ck, button bets, and I cr all in, ready to go home. Turn T, River J, my straight is good and I have a bit of life. An orbit or so later I’m back down to ~$185, 2 limpers and I raise KQ from the button, blinds both call and limpers call. Pot $300. Flop is J87, limper 2 to my right leads, I call, SB c/r, 3 calls, I raise to $90, all call. Turn K, ckd to me and I bet my last $35, SB c/r to $95 and all fold. River is a blank, I’m sure I’m going home, but no, he has 98o for 1 pair and a missed straight draw. Pot ~$800 and I can breathe again.

It was pretty much all good after that. I slowly build my stack, and when one of the dealers that I chat with a lot sits, I tell her that my winning streak will almost certainly end tonight, it’s late and I’m still stuck ~$800. She tells me its still early and smiles. And she hits me hard. I flop a set of 2s on an AK2 board against a fish (unraised preflop), he pays me each street. It’s now my kill, from UTG+1, 1 limper, same fish raises from BB, and I defend my kill with J4, pot $300. Flop is KJx:6 , fish bets, I call, one other call. Pot $450. Turn is Tx, bet/call/raise/call/call, pot $1050. River 9 to make my flush, fish looks like he wants to bluff at it but really he just wants to get to show down without a bet, I bet, they both fold. And I am now $600 ahead.

I play through the dealer’s down before racking up at 5 AM (ugh). A 7 hour session, up $360. Twelve consecutive winning sessions, 14 out of 15. Redonkulous!

Nice comeback! I left that 3rd table around 10p, probably just before you were moved over. It was ridiculously good. For the couple of hours I was there, majority of pots were either 3-bet or capped pre. Lucky for me I made the winner at the right time in these bloated pots and left with my biggest score yet.

I've been using Miller's Small Stakes Hold'em book as my bible, and it's been working out pretty good. I think the 30-60 at the A* plays just as Miller describes low stakes games in his book. Have you read SSHE and do you agree with me?

Anyway I've been effectively converted to LHE. I enjoy it so much more than NLHE, and obviously way better than the 2-5 spread limit we have here in CO. I think my next Vegas trip will be solely LHE at the Bellagio rather than the 2-5 and 5-10 NLHE at the Venetian...

Keep up the run good!

1- Thanks, and congrats to you. When 5 people see a flop for 3 or 4 bets, you can make a lot of $$$ in a hurry if you run good.

2-Funny that you ask that because I've been thinking for a little while now that I need to read that book. I've discerned a bit about it from reading the Miller discussion thread in Small Stakes Limit (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...ssion-1399182/) but in fact I don't own it.

I have recently started rereading Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players, I really did not appreciate some of what this book was about when I first read it because on-line poker (LHE) in the mid 2000s played very tight, a loose table meant 25% of the table saw a flop, typical was something like 18%. Now that I'm in a game where 4-6 players routinely see the flop, some of the text about playing in loose games may make more sense.

3-I'm with you as a convert but most of the fish still play NLHE. The 20-40 Bellagio game was way tougher than our game, at least during the week when I was there. I imagine weekends are different. I'm already looking forward to playing some LHE at the 2014 WSOP.

4-TYTY! Lucky 13 last night, I'll probably be there again next Saturday.

It's your money to do with as you please of course, and you shouldn't play with more than you are comfortable, but a 1.5 rack (if they had $10 chips like they should) stop loss is way too small, especially given its a kill game.

Good job fighting back though

LOL, yeah, only red and green at Ameristar, and lots of players want only red, it makes for a messy table.

Re stop loss: what would you suggest as an appropriate amount? This was the first time since I was a total noob at this game in the beginning of October that I had to think about this. When I was stuck $1500 I really didn't think too hard about continuing to play since the game was so good, as it always seems to be on Friday nights. When I think about setting a stop loss, it makes a lot more sense when playing NL, where tilt can be very costly. I have very strong tilt control tendencies at limit games. So maybe the $3K I bring to the casino is the right amount? Maybe I should bring more?

Thanks, and thanks for reading and posting!

I think three racks is a decent stop loss for that game.
But if you are confident in your game not going downhill, I don't know if I would have one. If the conditions are right and you are just being abused by variance, I wouldn't leave.

Lucky 13

Here’s a short update from last night’s 13th consecutive winning session at the 30/60 game. Arrived at Ameristar around 345 PM and got seated at the 3rd table of 30/60 within a few minutes. I saw that several of the people that I played with on Friday night into Saturday morning were still at the main games, building some huge stacks, I never understand why some of them don’t color up, or at least stack more than 20 high.

The game was pretty uneventful, and I was a bit tired from my late night on Friday. My stack was a bit up and down, nothing out of the ordinary. I think I was up ~$100 when I got called to the main game, and I drew the sucky table. I always put my name on the table change list when I move to the main game anyway, it took about an hour before a seat opened there. This table is pretty good, lots of loose players who open limp a ton or will cold call 2 with any two suited. I finally win a decent pot and am up ~$500 when I go totally card dead for about 2.5 hours. The first two hours were okay, it’s easy to fold T6o and Q2o. But then 76s and A4s start looking pretty good, even in early position. I was down ~$1000 before I finally started to get some good starting hands. I raise QQ from the BB in a 5-way limped pot, $360 preflop. T high flop, I lead, so-so reg raises, terrible semi-reg calling station calls, folds back to me, and I 3-bet, they both call, pot $630. Turn is a blank, bet/call/call, pot $810. River pairs the bottom card on the flop, bet/call/fold. He shows me his T when he mucks, LDO.

Overall, not quite mistake free, one hand while I was card dead was notably bad: 4 limpers, SB raises, and I call K8s from the BB, all call. Villain in this hand is weak passive, big hand alert bells should be going off here. Flop is K74 2-tone (not my suit), SB leads, I raise, 2 calls, and villain 3-bets (!). She has AA or KK every time here. Everyone calls. Blank turn, she bets, I call, others fold. And I call the blank river, she shows me AA of course. I suppose the pot is too big to fold my TPWK but her 3-bet on the flop tells me everything I need to know (see the hand I posted directly above this one).

I played a bit longer than I would have liked to, but the game was still good and I knew I’d get some cards if I just stayed patient. Nine hours after I started, I racked up +$380, 13 consecutive winning sessions and 15 of 16.

subbed, great to hear the journey of a LHE grinder outside of vegas.

GL OP.

PS, they run a 40-80 HORSE game by my on Wednesday and Friday if you are ever in the Chicago area...

Thanks! And thanks for the invite, I'd love to play that mix. I haven't been to Chicago in several years, it always seemed like a great city, as long you don't have to be there in the winter. But most of my work-related travel takes me to DC, California or Boston, and fun-travel is often Vegas, but perhaps I'll find the right conference to attend there sometime, it does vary some.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the first night of my 40-80 mixed game (an alternate to the PLO/PLO8 we usually play) but I may have to miss it because of some personal commitments. It'll likely be more varied than HORSE, in anticipation of playing mixed games in Vegas

And I'd especially like to thank you for posting in my blog, please don't ever change that awesome avatar!

Hey, found this thread after reading your TR to the WSOP over the summer. I'm only on post 14, but looking forward to keeping up with it due to the LHE nature of it. One hand comment though:

Even though this pot is going to be multiway, I think this call preflop is a bit too loose, unless you for sure get telegraph tells from the players behind you indicating they will all call. It obviously can't be a huge mistake, but a solid regular UTG+1 has your hand crushed always, and it really sucks when he has ABroadway or KQ.

And you are basing your 80% flop equity matching it up with the only hand you saw, there were two other hands that called the flop, so you're lamenting over the 'beat' is wrong, you weren't ahead on the flop, that much is sure. But if it makes you feel better, sure, calculate your equity against 6 high and complain about it.

Also, if you know you are behind, which you are with T high, why raise the last $25? It is going in on the river if you hit 100%. That is burning money. Granted you would have called on the 8 river because the pot is huge, but if the river comes a 4, wouldn't you like to save that $25 and buy a nice dinner?

You may have improved in the last few months, and the play there may be bad enough to make you a winner in the game, but your thinking and play leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Thanks for reading and posting! I feel kinda bad I never finished that TR, it was pretty time consuming to write, and once my buddy came to town I had someone to talk with at breakfast and no time to write.

No doubt I'm behind UTG+1, he has 99+, KQs+ here every time. I agree this call is on the loose side, but I think I'm getting the right price. Worst case is ~3.8:1 and I close the action. Additional info not in the original hand history: button has played ~80% of the hands since I sat down. And SB probably can't pass this up since he has posted the kill. So either 4.8 or 5.3:1 likely. And it certainly does suck when you end up in a flush over flush situation, but your implication here is that being suited could be bad, and I should be playing connected only hands because of the fear of being "overflushed"? I don't think you really mean that

Points well taken, especially the latter, in this particular case I would've lost that $25 anyway because of the 8, but I would've saved almost 0.5 BB if I whiffed. With regards to the former, no doubt I was behind probably every other hand, which makes it frustrating to lose to the one hand I was way ahead of. If A,K, or Q not a heart hits the turn I certainly check back if it gets checked to me. Sorry if that came off whiny.

Well, that's at least part of the reason for writing this blog, to try to improve and write out my mistakes in particular, it helps me to think through the hands when I write them out. Hands that I think I play especially well (get max value or lose the minimum) tend to be not so interesting to discuss.

40/80 Mixed Game

Last night my Wednesday home game decided to play 40/80 mixed game, rather than the usual 5/10 PLO/PLO8 game. The host and one of the other guys want to learn these games so they can play them at the WSOP. A few of the regulars at this game weren’t interested, so we ended up with seven players, which is about right for mixed games.

The mix was: O8, Razz, Stud, Stud/8, Badugi, 2-7 triple draw, Badeucey, and Razzdugi. I’m reasonably comfortable with the first four, having played the latter 3 online a fair amount (but never live in a casino). I’m by no means an expert these stud-dealt games but the lineup here isn’t too daunting. I find Badugi particularly uninteresting and frustrating. 2-7TD and Badeuecey are okay, I have very little experience with either of them and tend to be overly conservative, I think. Razzdugi is straightforward, play good razz and let the badugi take care of itself most of the time, if I have a good 3-card razz hand and a badugi I raise, raise, raise.

Here is 2-7TD hand that I found somewhat confusing, any advice appreciated, this is probably pretty basic. And if anyone has a link to a good beginner/intermediate strategy for 2-7TD/badeucey, I’d appreciate it.

Folded to hero in the cutoff, hand is 3457J. Seems strong enough to raise because I have good position. Do I just toss the J and draw to 3457? I suppose it matters how many callers I get and how many they draw. If I’m heads up, I think I should draw just one and pat any 2, 8, or 9, and try to take it down there. But if there’s 2+ callers then I doubt I can win with a 9, and there’s likely 1 or 2 deuces out already. Thoughts on this hand? I’ll post in Draw and Other Poker if people think this hand is interesting.

Here’s another hand that I wasn’t involved in was also found interesting. The game is stud hi only, and on 6th street V1 is showing 5777, V2 has cards but doesn’t matter, and V3 is showing J88Q . V1 leads out and is called by V2 and V3. On 7th street, V1 leads out, V2 folds and V3 raises. V1 tank-calls. V3 shows 8s full of Js, V1 shows a K-high diamond flush. V1 is probably the best player in this game, and we were discussing this hand during a break. He was lamenting leading out on 7th even though his flush was well-disguised. I told him that this hand reminded me of a hand that Sklansky described in Theory of Poker (I believe this is the right book). I might have the exact details wrong here but the core of the argument remains the same. Game is also stud hi only, and on 7th you’re showing QQQQ. Your opponent is showing 5678 (4 to a straight flush). What do you do? You check! Your opponent is never just calling, if he has a straight flush he raises and if not he folds (or perhaps bluffs). You check, and if he bets, you have to decide if he is capable of bluffing this spot. V1 at my game faced nearly the identical situation. V3 is never raising without a hand that can beat trip 7s, and he almost certainly wouldn’t raise with a straight or flush here because of the high potential that V1 has a full house. So he either has a bigger full house or a straight flush with nearly 100% certainty.

The night went really well from a financial view point. I got hit pretty hard by the deck early and was up ~$2000 after a few hours, some combo of good cards and weak opposition. Gave back half of it as the night went on and I missed all of my draws. Ended the night up ~$1500. Hope these guys want to keep playing this sometimes!