Hang in there!

Some Bally’s $1/$2 with my brother. His bankroll is much smaller than mine so I’ve gotta go smaller to play with him, and given the way this trip has gone so far this is probably going to save me some money lol.

Corona with lime to start off, let’s see if we can spur some action here. In for $300


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Worked my brother on the sticks on our way out of Bally’s. We both had great sessions; I was in for $300 and out for $605. He was in for $300 and out for $375.

AKo UTG+1. UTG opens to $10, I 3! to $35, SB cold calls, UTG jams for $49 total, I’m capped to a call and SB calls as well.
J88 flop. SB x/folds to my jam for his last $60, I win AKo vs ATo.

65cc in MP. Both EP limp, I limp behind, BU limps, both blinds limp. 6 ways to:
Flop (Pot: $12) Ac 9c 8d. BB leads for $5, UTG calls, I raise to $35, both call.
Turn (Pot: $117) Tc. UTG jams for $100 more, I think for a while but he could have weird hands since he showed up with ATo earlier. I call, he shows JT with Jc. I hold on a red 7 river.

86ss in CO, BTN straddle to $5, UTG calls, MP raise to $15, I call, BTN calls.
Flop (Pot: $50) 7s6c5c. MP x/c 25, I bet, BTN folds.
Turn (Pot: $100) Red Ten. check/check.
River (Pot: $100) Red 3. MP leads for $50, I call. He shows Ac 9s and my hand is good.

A4dd in HJ. I open to $10, CO BTN BB call.
864 with the eight of diamonds. BB leads for $25, I call, BTN calls.
2d on the turn. BB jams $60, I feel too strong to fold so I’ve gotta call.
Brick river but my hand is good. BB rolls over 97o after I show.

I lost a couple hands from spazz and had some other good hands but this is all I wrote down.

Last hand: my brother opens UTG over a button straddle to $20. MP tankraises to $100 and gives off every live tell in the book. Bro folds JJ face up, MP shows AA and gives the “i always raise big so nobody sucks out on me” speech. I agree with him.


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Good report. Please keep it coming...

Your 'fade the river' game is much improved! gl gl

Thanks for throwing the hands in there. Enjoy reading them -- fun to see how people are playing.

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good luck! any particular reason for Bally's? just curious

not really other than it’s the only place my brother is comfortable playing since he plays there regularly and their $1/$2 doesn’t play very big, so he doesn’t have too much of his money on the table at risk. and it’s very close to our house.
When I play alone I much prefer the Encore > Aria > Bellagio (in that order) with GVR as a sleeper pick.



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Bally’s $1/$2 (in for $300)

A3ss UTG. I raise to $11, UTG+1 calls and BB calls.
Flop ($35): 7s 6h 2s. BB leads for $10 I call.
Turn ($55): 3c. BB check/calls my bet of $30.
River (105): Th. Check and I tank check. she has $100 behind. She rolls over KK!

AQo in SB. MP raises to $10, I 3! to $35, MP calls. She just lost a big hand and had to show a river bluff.
Flop (Pot: $70) JT7r. I check, MP bets $45, I jam for $190 effective. She tank calls with Jx and I river a queen.

Double up a short stack. JJ in CO, I raise to $15, BTN jams $60 more, I call, he has KK.

just doubled up another short stack. In button straddle. Four limpers to me, I pop to $30, he flats.
987 all clubs flop. He shoves for $31 more and I call with A8. He has Jc 4c.



Had a few beers by this point so the note taking might be less descriptive. im going for efficiency. iPhone autocorrect will keep me from spewing

AK into AK all in on AT6 two spades flop.
Pre I raised from CO and he flatted from HJ along with BTN.
HJ was short and jammed over my cbet. He had K of spades, dealer puts the As on the turn for a big sweat (for like $250 lol). Kx river and we chop $15 each.

Last hand: Kc 4c. Four handed. BTN opens to $12, I 3bet to $45 from SB, she calls.
8c 5d 3h flop. I bet $40 she calls.
2c turn. I bet $60 she calls.
Ad river. I bet $100 she calls & shows A6o.

in for $400 out for $186


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Games are good there. Fewer reg pros playing $1/$2 IMO.


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Trip over? Enjoyed the posts.

Had to call this one off early today on account of east coast blizzard. Buddies aren’t coming into town, so I’m going back to San Diego early and staying.

Here’s the story of New Years Weekend (two posts).

TLDR: HHs and Results at bottom of second post

Went downtown the night before NYE, zooted and blasted post-house party jenga tournament that my partner and I cleaned up. Going to copy/paste this from what I sent some friends back home with minimal editing to protect names (substituting my group of 7 for “We”).

We went to El Cortez for their happy hour (two drinks for the price of one, highly recommend for the pregame spot downtown) where I fed $20 into a VP machine and lost literally 20 straight hands, didn’t even make a pair of Jacks or Better. Had two royal draws (wish I took photos like Leon, but this is my first TR. I’ll be better next time): AKJddd and I whiffed, AJTsss and I whiffed. By the time I finished, my dude Art came through completely sloshed - he’s a bit of a wildcard. We went to Oddfellas and hung out there with some randoms at a table in the back when someone in the group suggested Evil Pizza...

While we were ordering, Art fell in the booth, whipped out his thing, and started pissing in a plastic cup. Some other kid stood up on a table and screamed at the situation, I told Art to get the **** outside and pretended I didn’t know him so we could get our pizza and knots (i’ll do anything for ricotta on pizza, even if it means leaving my very belligerently drunk friend outside for 5 minutes). After we got the slices I had to throw up; I stumbled into the bathroom, saw a couple ripping lines off the sink, and I managed the kneel-over-the-toilet cleanly. Still got it from my college playing days. I didn’t say a word to them and walked out.


Popped a small bottle of mouthwash one of the girls had in her purse and made it into the Griffin. Don’t remember a minute of the rest of the night, woke up in a random bed out in Green Valley.

NYE i woke up, slugged some apple juice and bagel bites at home, then went right back after it. Headed to the Bellagio for poker in the afternoon, leaving before it got too crazy on the strip.

The night was uneventful - I went to a longtime childhood friend’s house. His roommate had Lucky Strikes from Mexico, and that’s the first (normal) cigarette I’ve ever smoked more than a puff of. Didn’t see the appeal. We played rock band and I got to sing in falsetto as I do in karaoke, but with more people throwing stuff at me and calling me gay.

Finally, some HHs of the game I played in on NYE before getting hammered off-strip:

$2/$5 at the Bellagio (in for $500, out for $498 three hours later)

Ad 8d MP open to $20 over a limp UTG. CO calls, BB calls, limper calls.
Kd 7d 2s flop. Checks around to CO who gets $35. Limper calls with $20(!) left behind after the call. I call.
2h turn. Limper snap jams for $20, I call. CO folds (?)
2c river. Limper rolls over A5o and we chop.

Make some light preflop 3! and double barrels that grow my stack without showing down.

Red QQ in the button straddle ($2/$5/$10, $800 effective).
CO opens to $30, I three bet to $100, BB cold four bets to $275, CO jams, I tank fold, BB calls. KK vs KK. I’m not one to fold QQ for ~80bb but they were both repping so strong that I think this lay down is standard.

AA UTG. I raise to $20, table folds around lol.

9c 7c BTN. MP opens to $20, HJ call, I call, both blinds call.
K97r flop. I call MP cbet of $75, BB calls behind
A turn. No bdfd. BB leads for $150. MP calls. I don’t like this spot but I call. $500 back and they both cover.
J river. BB jams, MP snaps, I have to throw it out. I think I like raising the flop better multiway in hindsight (even though I’m getting felted in this exact spot if I do). Heads up in position I’d still probably call because I can have 99/77/K9s to balance T8/86 with.

MP shows KK, BB gets steamed about bad beats and coolers... then rolls over A2 lmao. I’ve never seen a table agree with anyone more vigorously than the $2/$5 grinders did in that moment - they damn near jumped all over him with every “wow, that’s brutal dude”-type platitude in the book.

Ended my session after this one at exactly break-even. Tipped the cage $2 and finished my poker for the trip. Total results:

-$1000 @ Bellagio $2/$5
-$1500 @ Venetian $2/$5
-$360 Venetian tournament BI
-$500 @ blackjack
-$20 @ El Cortez bar video poker (!)
-$200 @ The Source
-pride from holding Ls in Canasta
+$250 @ Bally’s $1/$2
+2.5 lbs

-EV trip
+memories

overall: success


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Future plans: rebuild BR through job and confidence from beating 25NL on ACR. I haven’t updated my PG&C in a while, but I’ve been a solid winner at 2, 5, then 10NL over 100K hands.

I keep my online poker BR separate from my live poker BR which I believe to be a pretty big life leak, one that would really harm me if I didn’t have a job that paid so well. I will spend some time working on this. Part of the reason for this is that I honestly believe it’s way more difficult for me to beat even 25 or 50NL than $2/$5 live, although I’d rather have $20K+ to play $2/$5 long-term whereas you can play 25NL with like 5% of that.

Upcoming (will use this thread in the future for later trips):
Mardi Gras: New Orleans Feb. 8-11
March Madness: Las Vegas group TR mid-March


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Sorry about the run-bad, but glad you had fun. Sounds like a blast. Have a great time in NOLO. Love Harrah's -- greatest PLO I've played. Maybe see you in March in Vegas

Thanks for posting!

I’ll be at Harrahs NOLA Mardi Gras week as well.

Very enjoyable report, thanks for posting.

awesome trip report man. wished you would of ran better, but there is always next time.