After taking a nap of around 1.5 hours and forcing myself out of bed, I saw on Bravo that there was a ton of games going at all properties. Settled on Caesars Palace, as they seemed to have a pretty short wait list. And indeed I got a seat almost immediately upon arriving.
I folded for the first 2-3 orbits while I noticed one Asian player was fairly active in pots despite playing somewhat short stacked. He was involved in my first hand, when I raise
JTcc to $12, only to see him jam for $52. I did some calculations and decided on a slightly loose call. He shows KQo, which ends up holding up on a
x-x-x-K-x board - and I didn't get any closer than turning a flush draw. Oh well, small pot.
Very next hand I have
AQo and make it $12 again. One caller right behind me, before the Asian 3-bets to $40. Looks somewhat strong, but I think I am too high up in my range here against this player who I have seen doesn't need to have the nuts. So I 4-bet to $112 to get it in against him. He instacalls, and show the same hand as last time (KQo). That is good news, and my hand holds up on a
low board.
After that hand I was super card-dead for 30-40 minutes, before picking up
AA from EP1. I make it $12, and get one caller two spots to my left. Flop comes
T-8-2 two spades (I have no spade), and I bet $17. He ends up calling after mulling it over for a bit. Turn is
Qs, which is about the worst card as it fills both J9 for straight and any flush. I check it over to him, and he bets $30. Can't fold for that prize I think, so I call to see what he does on the river.
River is a red
5, I check, and he once again bets $30. Same bet, and sizing feels kinda weak. At the same time, I think he with 100% certainty checks back a Ten here on the river once I call turn. So the fact that he continues to bet is a bit alarming, but I am getting a good price and I am underrepped. So I call, only to see him turn over
QTo for turned two pair. Not that surprised that he had me beat, but I don't think I can play it any other way.
Down around $80 now, and not much happens for another 30 minutes as I keep getting very unplayable cards. But finally I get a free look in BB with
K7dd after a cascade of limpers in front. We go 5-ways to
Q-9-6 two diamonds, and I decided to lead for $10 here. I have an overcard and there are plenty of turns that give me a straight draw as well. In addition, I obviously have the flushdraw. UTG-limper calls, and another limper also calls.
Turn comes a
K, so now I suddenly have top pair as well. I bet $25 for value against Qx, only to see UTG min-raise it up to $50. He is probably strong, and only have around $75 back, but I don't think I can fold. At the same time I thought jamming would be a bit spewy, since I am most likely getting it in behind. So I call. Certainly wouldn't hate a jam either given his stack size, but as said I do think we are likely not ahead right now.
As it was, the river came the
9d, and I lead to put him all-in. He calls almost instantly with 66 for a flopped set. So obviously I got lucky there, and my assumption about him being strong on turn was correct. But he played it pretty horrible imo, and only have himself to blame.
Up around $70 then, but lose some back in a spot I could have avoided. I raise
AKhh to $12 and get one caller. Flop comes
9-8-5 one heart. I decided to check it, maybe too tight HU but this is a board that favors him a lot. He checks back. Turn is another
9, and I check again, just trying to get to showdown cheaply. He bets $12, and I call. I think he bets most of his pairs on the flop when I check, so this seemed a bit fishy to me.
River is another
5, so the board is double paired. I check, and he now bets $17. I managed to talk myself into a call here, but I don't like it. The opponent, although not a great player, seemed experienced enough (possibly a local reg) to know that I likely have A high in this spot, and I cannot see him bluffing for that sizing. It stinks some kind of pair, and after I called he showed up with
53ss. Not what I expected, but I still think I should fold river.
Lose a few more small pots (sorry for lack of pictures, I promise one soon), and am down around even when I find
KTss from UTG. We are now down to 6-handed after a few players have left and/or got stacked, so I raise to $12. EP1 calls, a new player to the table who have turned out to be fairly splashy so far. We see
9-5-3 one spade, and I bet $15. Seems reasonable to start a bet here, given I raised from UTG and have two backdoor-options at least. He calls.
Turn comes
2s, so we now have a draw. I bet $37, only to see him pretty much snap-call. That said, not a surprise that he doesn't fold on this card, so if I chose to bet here I should also have a lot of river bluffs I think. It didn't come to that however, as river lands a beautiful
7s. I bet $105 (into $132), and he calls within 10 seconds. My hand is obviously good. So that was a nice runout.
After that I played a lot of small pots, and most of them went my way, which was a nice feeling. I did however miss value in one spot, which annoys me slightly. There are two limps for $3, and I make it $16 in cutoff with
TT. Only the second limper, an Asian female calls. Flop comes
Q-J-8, she checks, and I think a bit and check behind.
Turn comes another
8, she checks, and I bet $15 to hopefully get value from lower pairs or straight draws. In hindsight could maybe have started a bet on the flop for the same reasons. Anyway, she calls quickly.
River is yet another
8, so I make a full house. She checks, and I took some time with this. It really felt like she could have a lower full house here, and if I think about it logically she would probably bet all her Qx and Jx on the turn after I checked back flop. But my thought process wasn't that clear in game sadly, although I really felt like I should bet. But in the end I chickened out and just showed my hand. She nodded, and showed me 77.
Note to self - I must take myself to value town sometimes in order to get a better winrate. Even if she would have showed up with Jx here, a bet is still the best river play here. And for this actual hand, I am very certain that she would have called $25 or similar with her full house.
But overall it was a good session, although I think I made a few small-ish mistakes. Stack just kept growing towards the end, and maybe I should have stayed a bit longer. But instead I took the profit of $233 USD after 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Went back to Horseshoe to potentially play a bit here, but was tired so only ended up playing a little bit of Video Poker. Even though the paytables are generally bad at all Caesars locations, I must say they have a really good selection of machines here at Horsehoe. I do enjoy playing the machine below a bit, even though the denom is a bit low for single line (machine is hardwired to $25c and Double Double Bonus). So close to a Royal Flush here on this progressive machine:
Hitting it here would have meant $1051.09 USD (as seen on the picture), and what comes on the draw if not a red King:
Sadly the wrong one, but oh well. Was still a good sweat. And although I haven't played many hours, it has been a good day poker wise as well. Certainly making some mistakes and could ramp up aggression even more in a few spots, but I do think some of my sizings have been better so far.
Will obviously play more and longer sessions as the trip moves along, but for now I didn't want to exhaust myself when I can feel that I am getting tired. Not sure what and where to play tomorrow, but we will work that out when we wake up.
Cash Games:
Hours played: 4h 30 min
Won/lost: +517 USD
Hourly rate: +$114.9 USD
Last edited by BigWhale; 01-15-2024 at 01:58 AM.