Landed in LV. This might turn into a TR.
07-16-2015
, 10:20 PM
08-01-2015
, 12:47 AM
I'm not in LV, but some buddies and I are playing in the WPT main event at Choctaw. Tourney started today, but I reg'd for day 1b tomorrow.
Decided to play a little cash tonight. Started off at a 1-2 table and was quickly seated at a 2-5 game. It was pretty fun, and relatively soft compared with Vegas tables. Here's my Oklahoma local competition:
The guy to my left keeps leaning way the hell into the table and I can't see anything.
I had changed seats, and the leaning guy is V in the following hand. My hand recall skills suck, so this is generally what happened...
Eff stacks about 550. V is a weak player in CO, raises my 10 button (Dallas) straddle to 25. Blinds fold and I call with K7hh with intention to steal from him with position. Flop J65hhh. V checks, I bet 45. V calls. I put him on qq kk or aa. Turn 2x. V checks. I bet 110. V calls. River Kx. V checks, I shove. V makes crying call and mucks. Ship it!
Talk about a small world. Remember back a few trips when I hit a royal at the HPT? While talking with the dealer and mentioning that I played the HPT, and talk came up about hitting royals, he said he dealt a royal at the HPT. I knew he looked familiar.
Another fun hand - I raised utg with red queens. MP called. V on button (same V as above) raised 110.
V is a weak player who's overvalued hands, missed several draws and appears sick of my aggro play and being beaten. My read on him was nervous with his hand, maybe scared, but as if he was willing to make a stand. Since he only had 100bb, and going with my read that he was behind but willing to get it in, I decided I'd stick with this hand and raised 260. MP folded and V called.
Flop came something like 469 with two clubs. I shoved, he called with a set of nines (at least my read was right!). The board paired and the river brought a Queen. Ship it!
Did a little more chipping up. Was table chip leader for a while, up about 1200 or so.
After that I went to dinner at their steakhouse. Started out with a white wine, and this was a wedge salad.
Followed that up with a prime rib and spinach. It was standard.
After coming back, this happened...
When I returned from dinner, nearly the entire table was new. But I was still the big stack. Within two orbits, the table saw me play and win two hands without showdown, and I probably looked TAG. V was a 50ish player with hat, sunglasses and headphones who appeared to know a few people. If I had to guess, I thought he was competent.
Eff stacks 675. I raised utg (there was a $10 Dallas button straddle) to 40 with KsKh. Folded to V in Sb who raised to 75. I raised 175. V called. I put him on JJ-KK and AK.
Flop 8s10xJs. V checked. H bet 280. V Instashoved an extra 220. Since it was instant (as if he wanted a fold instead of a call - I put him in QQ or AK or pair+Draw), I called. V turns over QQ. River hits the 9. Seriously.
And within one orbit this happened. V is a player who's been caught bluffing in bad spots, and is sitting utg with 450ish. I have him covered and am on the button and straddled. V min raised utg 20. 4 calls. I raise 120 with KK expecting table to think I'm squeezing and FOS. V shoves 230 more, a tiny stack called and I called. V has AA and hits a set on the river just to poke a stick in my eye.
Stack shrunk a bit.
Decided to play a little cash tonight. Started off at a 1-2 table and was quickly seated at a 2-5 game. It was pretty fun, and relatively soft compared with Vegas tables. Here's my Oklahoma local competition:
The guy to my left keeps leaning way the hell into the table and I can't see anything.
I had changed seats, and the leaning guy is V in the following hand. My hand recall skills suck, so this is generally what happened...
Eff stacks about 550. V is a weak player in CO, raises my 10 button (Dallas) straddle to 25. Blinds fold and I call with K7hh with intention to steal from him with position. Flop J65hhh. V checks, I bet 45. V calls. I put him on qq kk or aa. Turn 2x. V checks. I bet 110. V calls. River Kx. V checks, I shove. V makes crying call and mucks. Ship it!
Talk about a small world. Remember back a few trips when I hit a royal at the HPT? While talking with the dealer and mentioning that I played the HPT, and talk came up about hitting royals, he said he dealt a royal at the HPT. I knew he looked familiar.
Another fun hand - I raised utg with red queens. MP called. V on button (same V as above) raised 110.
V is a weak player who's overvalued hands, missed several draws and appears sick of my aggro play and being beaten. My read on him was nervous with his hand, maybe scared, but as if he was willing to make a stand. Since he only had 100bb, and going with my read that he was behind but willing to get it in, I decided I'd stick with this hand and raised 260. MP folded and V called.
Flop came something like 469 with two clubs. I shoved, he called with a set of nines (at least my read was right!). The board paired and the river brought a Queen. Ship it!
Did a little more chipping up. Was table chip leader for a while, up about 1200 or so.
After that I went to dinner at their steakhouse. Started out with a white wine, and this was a wedge salad.
Followed that up with a prime rib and spinach. It was standard.
After coming back, this happened...
When I returned from dinner, nearly the entire table was new. But I was still the big stack. Within two orbits, the table saw me play and win two hands without showdown, and I probably looked TAG. V was a 50ish player with hat, sunglasses and headphones who appeared to know a few people. If I had to guess, I thought he was competent.
Eff stacks 675. I raised utg (there was a $10 Dallas button straddle) to 40 with KsKh. Folded to V in Sb who raised to 75. I raised 175. V called. I put him on JJ-KK and AK.
Flop 8s10xJs. V checked. H bet 280. V Instashoved an extra 220. Since it was instant (as if he wanted a fold instead of a call - I put him in QQ or AK or pair+Draw), I called. V turns over QQ. River hits the 9. Seriously.
And within one orbit this happened. V is a player who's been caught bluffing in bad spots, and is sitting utg with 450ish. I have him covered and am on the button and straddled. V min raised utg 20. 4 calls. I raise 120 with KK expecting table to think I'm squeezing and FOS. V shoves 230 more, a tiny stack called and I called. V has AA and hits a set on the river just to poke a stick in my eye.
Stack shrunk a bit.
08-01-2015
, 04:17 AM
08-01-2015
, 10:55 AM
If you can afford it, please tip your hotel cleaning staff, even if it's just a couple bucks. They are usually paid crap, to clean up our crap.
I didn't used to do it, until one time during one of my first trips to Vegas when I was younger, and I was slumming it at IP. For some reason I left 2 or 3 bucks and my leftover change everyday with a thank you note. One day I ran into the cleaning lady at my door and she was pretty emotional with her gratitude, saying nobody ever tips or recognizes their work. It was VERY moving to be reminded how many good people work so much harder for much less money.
I didn't used to do it, until one time during one of my first trips to Vegas when I was younger, and I was slumming it at IP. For some reason I left 2 or 3 bucks and my leftover change everyday with a thank you note. One day I ran into the cleaning lady at my door and she was pretty emotional with her gratitude, saying nobody ever tips or recognizes their work. It was VERY moving to be reminded how many good people work so much harder for much less money.
08-01-2015
, 12:39 PM
Quote:
If you can afford it, please tip your hotel cleaning staff, even if it's just a couple bucks. They are usually paid crap, to clean up our crap.
I didn't used to do it, until one time during one of my first trips to Vegas when I was younger, and I was slumming it at IP. For some reason I left 2 or 3 bucks and my leftover change everyday with a thank you note. One day I ran into the cleaning lady at my door and she was pretty emotional with her gratitude, saying nobody ever tips or recognizes their work. It was VERY moving to be reminded how many good people work so much harder for much less money.
I didn't used to do it, until one time during one of my first trips to Vegas when I was younger, and I was slumming it at IP. For some reason I left 2 or 3 bucks and my leftover change everyday with a thank you note. One day I ran into the cleaning lady at my door and she was pretty emotional with her gratitude, saying nobody ever tips or recognizes their work. It was VERY moving to be reminded how many good people work so much harder for much less money.
Great TR - very jealous as the fields in those Choctaw events are insanely huge and soft.
08-01-2015
, 12:53 PM
Quote:
Choctaw looks decent, do they have craps, recall some weird rule about dice games in Oklahoma. Also is BJ commission? Sorry one last question do they have parimutuel horse racing? I'm sure I'll be up that way at some point and want to know my degen options.
Also good karma on tipping cleaning staff.
Also good karma on tipping cleaning staff.
No racing that could find.
08-01-2015
, 02:43 PM
Never knew that about the pillow. Thanks for the tip!
08-02-2015
, 10:33 AM
Day 1 of WPT Choctaw was all about patience, and more patience. And more patience.
I’ve been playing recreational poker for about ten years or so, about 5 years of that I’ve been playing seriously – studying, working my game, etc. – as much as you can when it’s a hobby. It’s amazing how much differently I approach tournaments now than in the past, and it’s easy to see how absolutely horrible I was back in the day, and how much I’ve learned (and how much I still need to learn).
The number one thing I’ve learned is patience. We played about 13 hours of poker yesterday, and I probably only played 5 or 6 hands of consequence. Other than those hands, I only played 10-15 hands where I either cbetted/whiffed and shut down, or called preflop and folded flop. All other hands were folded preflop. For a couple hours some time. I wasn't necessarily card dead, but I tried to invest my chips carefully when the time was right.
Maybe I was too nitty, but I didn't feel a need to press thin edges against far superior opponents. I wasn't at all afraid to play post-flop, but I decided for yesterday that it was Better to wait for good moments to squeeze, 3b, with premium-ish hands and go for value whenever possible. Half my won pots were done with the best hands, and other half were won without showdown where I likely didn't have best hand. I had one suckout in my favor and 2 or 3 suckouts/coolers against me.
Every single hand I was paying attention to image, position, chip stacks, other players’ comments and emotions and tells. Thankfully, along with a little bit of luck and thankfully avoiding being felted by the coolers, it paid off and I was able to maintain an acceptable chipstack going into day two.
My table was a mix of aggros, bracelet winners, notable WPT winning players, regular tournament circuit players, and a couple weekend warriors like me. I probably had the lowest vpip, and I used that image very carefully when needed.
Unlike my previous TRs, I don’t have a bunch of pictures or hand commentary from today. I tried to stay focused at all times and didn’t snap pics or write notes, except a couple times. Here's a little color...
We had an hour for dinner break, and I hustled over to the steakhouse to try and get one of the few bar seats available. None were open, and plenty of other poker players were standing behind sitting customers, awaiting their seats. So I just ordered my food to go, and was going to eat out in the food court. However, just as my food was delivered, a seat at the bar opened up and I was able to snag it, and just eat my food out of the to-go containers.
Here’s the menu:
I ordered a glass of white, French onion soup, a Caesar salad, and lump crab.
The only distraction during the tournament for me was when Brewster’s Millions was playing on the big screens.
Our dealer made a neat little spread of the cards during one of the breaks.
Here’s a pic of some shenanigans going on right before we bagged for the night. If I remember correctly, some girl a couple tables away bet a guy that Scotty Nguyen’s hair wasn’t real. Scotty got up and let the tables know that his hair was, in fact, very real.
Day 2 starts in a few hours. I’m coming in with about 45bb.
I’ve been playing recreational poker for about ten years or so, about 5 years of that I’ve been playing seriously – studying, working my game, etc. – as much as you can when it’s a hobby. It’s amazing how much differently I approach tournaments now than in the past, and it’s easy to see how absolutely horrible I was back in the day, and how much I’ve learned (and how much I still need to learn).
The number one thing I’ve learned is patience. We played about 13 hours of poker yesterday, and I probably only played 5 or 6 hands of consequence. Other than those hands, I only played 10-15 hands where I either cbetted/whiffed and shut down, or called preflop and folded flop. All other hands were folded preflop. For a couple hours some time. I wasn't necessarily card dead, but I tried to invest my chips carefully when the time was right.
Maybe I was too nitty, but I didn't feel a need to press thin edges against far superior opponents. I wasn't at all afraid to play post-flop, but I decided for yesterday that it was Better to wait for good moments to squeeze, 3b, with premium-ish hands and go for value whenever possible. Half my won pots were done with the best hands, and other half were won without showdown where I likely didn't have best hand. I had one suckout in my favor and 2 or 3 suckouts/coolers against me.
Every single hand I was paying attention to image, position, chip stacks, other players’ comments and emotions and tells. Thankfully, along with a little bit of luck and thankfully avoiding being felted by the coolers, it paid off and I was able to maintain an acceptable chipstack going into day two.
My table was a mix of aggros, bracelet winners, notable WPT winning players, regular tournament circuit players, and a couple weekend warriors like me. I probably had the lowest vpip, and I used that image very carefully when needed.
Unlike my previous TRs, I don’t have a bunch of pictures or hand commentary from today. I tried to stay focused at all times and didn’t snap pics or write notes, except a couple times. Here's a little color...
We had an hour for dinner break, and I hustled over to the steakhouse to try and get one of the few bar seats available. None were open, and plenty of other poker players were standing behind sitting customers, awaiting their seats. So I just ordered my food to go, and was going to eat out in the food court. However, just as my food was delivered, a seat at the bar opened up and I was able to snag it, and just eat my food out of the to-go containers.
Here’s the menu:
I ordered a glass of white, French onion soup, a Caesar salad, and lump crab.
The only distraction during the tournament for me was when Brewster’s Millions was playing on the big screens.
Our dealer made a neat little spread of the cards during one of the breaks.
Here’s a pic of some shenanigans going on right before we bagged for the night. If I remember correctly, some girl a couple tables away bet a guy that Scotty Nguyen’s hair wasn’t real. Scotty got up and let the tables know that his hair was, in fact, very real.
Day 2 starts in a few hours. I’m coming in with about 45bb.
08-03-2015
, 11:37 AM
Day 2 summary: coin flips, Michael Bolton, playing big pots open-faced, and luckboxing.
I spent the first couple hours of day two folding hand after hand. Then I finally got 1010, which I raised preflop, got two callers, hit a set on the flop and got one street of value from one caller. Then I raised utg with 99, which was 3bet, then shoved, so I folded.
Then came the game changer. Matt Salsberg was at my table with a short stack and hadn't played a hand in about an hour. He raised in the CO in what looked like an effort to steal the blinds to 2.5bb, then I 3b in the SB to 7bb with AKxx. And then the BB shoved ~25bb. Salsberg folded and I had to decide whether to call off 3/4 of my stack. I made the call, the SB turned over QQ and I lost the race. After that I was crippled and ended up shoving A3, and called by 1010 which held (after I hit two pair on flop and watched a 10 fall on the river).
So I'm out. Looking back, I guess I could have folded AK and preserved my chips, since Salsberg likely folded one of my outs, and the BB's range has to be JJ+ given the dynamic, but IDK. Regardless, it was a great time.
As I was walking out of the tournament room towards the cash games, I ran across this ad. No.
The cash game was fun. The following insanity went down right after I sat down.
There was a very drunk guy at my 2-5 table who was giving away chips chasing hands. Completely spewing. And then this hand happened: he called a preflop raise, and accidentally flipped over his hand of 22. The SB reraised and drunk guy called and said he'd play his hand face up. OK. Flop comes Q high. SB bets, drunk guy shoves 550. SB hesitates, sheepishly shrugs and says "ok, I call I guess. I have a queen", and board runs out and the Q holds. The SB said he hesitated because the guy has been running hot and hitting hands and he was worried about a 2 hitting. After that hand, drunk guy put down $50 to hold his seat, but never sat back down. Staff took his chips and we found his phone under the table.
Here's a (bad) pic of the guy as he was getting up to leave:
The table slowed down considerably until a couple new players sat down and helped drive the action. Then came the big one.
Eff stacks are ~$1400ish. UTG (a whale-ish type who spewed trying to bluff several times) raised 15. EP called, I called with 24dd, MP raised 175 (a middle-aged local/regular who had been playing tight). Table went silent since that's the least likely move we expected from him. Then it started... HJ called, button called, utg called, EP folded. It's on me.
I know I should fold, but we all knew the guy had AA and I'm getting some pretty good odds to call. So I find a way to justify it and call. We go to the flop with a ~$880 pot. Yes, a nearly $1k preflop pot in 2-5.
Just before the dealer spread the cards, I heard angels singing, and then saw the glorious 2h2x8h flop!!!
UTG checks. Knowing my image was aggressive, someone who is capable of pushing draws, I went for it right away and bet $790. Again came a dramatic, silent pause from the table. And then MP shoved!
All else folded. I turned over my cards, but MP didn't show. Board ran out and hit the third heart. But then MP mucks and my hand is good.
Damn, poker's easy when you're lucky. Amirite?
As if the table hadn't seen enough crazy action, we had another open-faced large-pot clash.
There were two players at the table who were friends and playing against one another when possible, with a bit of soft play mixed in, with player A nearly always getting the best of player B. The hand was very confusing, but I've reconstructed it to my best memory.
Eff stacks about $700ish. I didn't see preflop/flop action, but on 66710 turn, player A bet, B raised, A reraised. And then it went weird.
Player B just said "snap!" and turned her cards over, showing 89 for the straight, and put them over the line. The dealer mucked her cards and the table yelled "woah!" and the girl yelled at the dealer, saying she said called, saying that "snap" equals "call", and the dealer gave her back her cards which were easily identified on top. The floor came over and heard what happened and let things stand. Nobody objected at the table.
The river card didn't change anything. Player A - who could see that Player B had a straight - pulled out about $700 in bills that were behind his cup holder (but clearly visible), and put her all in, and said "any money you push across that line is mine", basically letting everyone know he had a FH (A & B had both, in previous hands, warned the other when heads up if they had the other beaten). She looked surprised and pissed, made a slight push forward of her stack (but never crossing the line), and said something like "fine, you can have all my money" and got up and left the table, with everyone yelling at her to come back. Chaos ensued. Did she call? She never said call, and the casino uses the table line rule (which they enforced strictly the day before, in a pot I was in). We needed a ruling.
The floor manager said that because she made a shoving motion and said you could have my chips, that it's a call. Her friend, Player A, was very cool about it and explained to the floor that she probably was just embarrassed, might not have seen his bills, and that she never said call or crossed the betting line. If strictly enforcing their own rules, I didn't see how the floor could rule against her, but they did and said she "definitely" meant to call. But there was nothing definite about what happened.
I don't know about yall, but I see people do all kinds of stuff that makes the "look" like they're doing something, but until they actually act, it's not binding. For example, how many times do we see people initially start to shove their stack, only to jokingly fold? I know the floor had to make a ruling, and would be criticized regardless of their decision, but I probably would have gone the other way.
After that, the action players left the table, so I decided to pack up. Here's a little CP for ya:
I spent the first couple hours of day two folding hand after hand. Then I finally got 1010, which I raised preflop, got two callers, hit a set on the flop and got one street of value from one caller. Then I raised utg with 99, which was 3bet, then shoved, so I folded.
Then came the game changer. Matt Salsberg was at my table with a short stack and hadn't played a hand in about an hour. He raised in the CO in what looked like an effort to steal the blinds to 2.5bb, then I 3b in the SB to 7bb with AKxx. And then the BB shoved ~25bb. Salsberg folded and I had to decide whether to call off 3/4 of my stack. I made the call, the SB turned over QQ and I lost the race. After that I was crippled and ended up shoving A3, and called by 1010 which held (after I hit two pair on flop and watched a 10 fall on the river).
So I'm out. Looking back, I guess I could have folded AK and preserved my chips, since Salsberg likely folded one of my outs, and the BB's range has to be JJ+ given the dynamic, but IDK. Regardless, it was a great time.
As I was walking out of the tournament room towards the cash games, I ran across this ad. No.
The cash game was fun. The following insanity went down right after I sat down.
There was a very drunk guy at my 2-5 table who was giving away chips chasing hands. Completely spewing. And then this hand happened: he called a preflop raise, and accidentally flipped over his hand of 22. The SB reraised and drunk guy called and said he'd play his hand face up. OK. Flop comes Q high. SB bets, drunk guy shoves 550. SB hesitates, sheepishly shrugs and says "ok, I call I guess. I have a queen", and board runs out and the Q holds. The SB said he hesitated because the guy has been running hot and hitting hands and he was worried about a 2 hitting. After that hand, drunk guy put down $50 to hold his seat, but never sat back down. Staff took his chips and we found his phone under the table.
Here's a (bad) pic of the guy as he was getting up to leave:
The table slowed down considerably until a couple new players sat down and helped drive the action. Then came the big one.
Eff stacks are ~$1400ish. UTG (a whale-ish type who spewed trying to bluff several times) raised 15. EP called, I called with 24dd, MP raised 175 (a middle-aged local/regular who had been playing tight). Table went silent since that's the least likely move we expected from him. Then it started... HJ called, button called, utg called, EP folded. It's on me.
I know I should fold, but we all knew the guy had AA and I'm getting some pretty good odds to call. So I find a way to justify it and call. We go to the flop with a ~$880 pot. Yes, a nearly $1k preflop pot in 2-5.
Just before the dealer spread the cards, I heard angels singing, and then saw the glorious 2h2x8h flop!!!
UTG checks. Knowing my image was aggressive, someone who is capable of pushing draws, I went for it right away and bet $790. Again came a dramatic, silent pause from the table. And then MP shoved!
All else folded. I turned over my cards, but MP didn't show. Board ran out and hit the third heart. But then MP mucks and my hand is good.
Damn, poker's easy when you're lucky. Amirite?
As if the table hadn't seen enough crazy action, we had another open-faced large-pot clash.
There were two players at the table who were friends and playing against one another when possible, with a bit of soft play mixed in, with player A nearly always getting the best of player B. The hand was very confusing, but I've reconstructed it to my best memory.
Eff stacks about $700ish. I didn't see preflop/flop action, but on 66710 turn, player A bet, B raised, A reraised. And then it went weird.
Player B just said "snap!" and turned her cards over, showing 89 for the straight, and put them over the line. The dealer mucked her cards and the table yelled "woah!" and the girl yelled at the dealer, saying she said called, saying that "snap" equals "call", and the dealer gave her back her cards which were easily identified on top. The floor came over and heard what happened and let things stand. Nobody objected at the table.
The river card didn't change anything. Player A - who could see that Player B had a straight - pulled out about $700 in bills that were behind his cup holder (but clearly visible), and put her all in, and said "any money you push across that line is mine", basically letting everyone know he had a FH (A & B had both, in previous hands, warned the other when heads up if they had the other beaten). She looked surprised and pissed, made a slight push forward of her stack (but never crossing the line), and said something like "fine, you can have all my money" and got up and left the table, with everyone yelling at her to come back. Chaos ensued. Did she call? She never said call, and the casino uses the table line rule (which they enforced strictly the day before, in a pot I was in). We needed a ruling.
The floor manager said that because she made a shoving motion and said you could have my chips, that it's a call. Her friend, Player A, was very cool about it and explained to the floor that she probably was just embarrassed, might not have seen his bills, and that she never said call or crossed the betting line. If strictly enforcing their own rules, I didn't see how the floor could rule against her, but they did and said she "definitely" meant to call. But there was nothing definite about what happened.
I don't know about yall, but I see people do all kinds of stuff that makes the "look" like they're doing something, but until they actually act, it's not binding. For example, how many times do we see people initially start to shove their stack, only to jokingly fold? I know the floor had to make a ruling, and would be criticized regardless of their decision, but I probably would have gone the other way.
After that, the action players left the table, so I decided to pack up. Here's a little CP for ya:
Last edited by Naxetami; 08-03-2015 at 11:43 AM.
Reason: changed Eff stacks in hand with 24
08-03-2015
, 06:51 PM
08-03-2015
, 08:36 PM
