Finally this half-dead whale have some energy to update the TR. So we have to turn back the clock to yesterday morning-ish, when I was at The Venetian for a session. After a 15 minute wait, I got a seat at a new table. It didn't look amazing as there were one talkative Swede, one Asian with headphones, and one guy with Eastern-European accent who I played with twice (!) on my trip in September last year (Red Rock and Venetian). He is fairly tight, but occasionally spazzes out a bit.
There were however also a father/son duo out in Vegas for the weekend, and it sounded like (although I was at the other end of the table) that they were having their first ever live session in a casino. These two were extremely fishy, although they seemed in good spirits - and everyone has to start somewhere.
Only a few hands in there is a limp for $3, I make it $15 with
KJdd in cutoff, the accent-guy calls and the limper calls.
J-7-6 one diamond is reasonable. Limper checks, I bet $25 and they both fold.
Then there are two limps for $3, before a raise to $15 from the guy who limped the previous hand. He turned out to be a personal fitness trainer for a couple of billionaires, which was an interesting story in itself. Either way, he only starts hand with around $150 and I find
JJ in SB. Good enough to get in against such a short stack, so I 3-bet to $55. It folds back to him, and he ponders his decision for 20 seconds before moving all-in. I obviously snapcall, as I had made up my mind.
3-5-A-7-6 doesn't look extremely promising, but after I show he just shows
TT. So I had him pipped and won a nice pot from the get-go.
Then the fishy dad limps from UTG, and I come along on the button with
J7hh. Should probably isolate rather than limp, I am still not cut-throat enough in all spots. Accent-guy makes it $13 from SB, fishy son calls from bb, father calls, and I feel somewhat obligated to call now. So I flick in the extra $10.
We go 4-ways to
A-5-2 two hearts, and PFR checks. The son leads out $20 from SB, and I decided to call. Bit borderline as he only has around $50-$60 left, but figured he would never in a million years release an Ace no matter the runout + PFR likely is not too strong here.
Heads-up to
Th turn, so I make my flush. He jams, I snap-call, and beat his
AKo. He actually did have a heart, so it was some sweat before the river, but it was a random
blank (didn't note it down).
Up well over $200 then, but then we get into a weird spot. I raise
QJdd to $12, and get 3 callers, including button (father) and SB (OMC-ish, but was not terrible). Flop comes
J-6-8, and when it checks to me I bet $25. BTN and BB calls, and the turn is a
7. Bit of a borderline spot, but 78 has two pair, 9T has a straight etc., and I don't have an amazing kicker. So after SB checks I decided to check for some pot control.
The fishy father now bets $21, and SB call. Don't think I can fold quite yet for this weak sizing, so I call. River is a
T, and now SB leads out the same $21. It's annoying, and I am probably behind some 2 pair combo. But pot has grown to $186 or something, and I can't fold getting 9/1. So I call.
The father then puts in his last $100 chips, clearly intending to raise, but since he didn't say a word it is ruled just a call. That can't be good. SB shows a pretty weird played
QTo for only second pair, and the fishy father had flopped a set with
88. Not much to do with that, guess I got away cheap due to his fishy line.
I then win two small pots with
KQss (raise $20 from BB over limps, everyone folds), and
A7dd (3-bet new Asian player $11 open to $35 from button and get fold).
Also managed to get
AA (raise to $12, everyone fold) and
KK two hands in a row! In the last one I raise to $12, and get 3 callers. Flop comes
T-8-5 two hearts, and after I bet $25 everyone folds.
I then took a quick break as to not exhaust myself, and went up to the Grand Canal Shoppes. This guy was singing 'O sole mio' while chauffeuring a couple around the 'Venice' canals:
When I returned I won a small pot with
JJ, before finding yet another big pair in
TT from UTG. I make it $12, and accent guy calls right behind me, plus the Swede calls from BB. Flop is
2-6-8, and I bet $20. Only the first player calls, and we go heads-up to a
9 turn. I decided to check here, although I guess I can still get value from hands like 77, 56 and 78. He bets $33, and I call.
River is a
5, not what I wanted to see. I check, prepared to give up, but he just check it back. I hope there is a chance I am good then, but no - he was being a nit with
66 for a flopped set. Clearly he is not good enough to understand that I should almost never have a seven when I raise from UTG, and thus he can easily bet for value.
I did however then play what I think is maybe my best hand so far this trip. There is a raise to $7 from early, from the OMC-ish guy who played QTo weirdly in an earlier hand. However, most of his other raises have been between $12-$17, so I interpret this as weakness. I have
A5hh on the button, and 3-bet to $21. Accent-guy coldcalls in SB, and the raiser also calls.
J-7-2 two hearts, and after they check to me I only bet $20. I chose this sizing partially to invite a raise, but also to see a turn cheaply if they only wanted to call. SB folds immediately, however the original raiser makes it $40. I think for a second, but then realize that these sizings are usually just someone who is trying to 'find out where they are'. So I make it a big $155 to get him to fold, although that means I would (unhappily) have to call a shove if he jams. However, he just thinks for a bit, flashes a J and folds.
This hand is great on two levels:
1) I recognized the weak sizing pre and pounced on it (although it was easy when I got dealt a pretty hand).
2) I also recongized that the min-raise on flop was weak, and pushed him off the best hand.
I did lose one small pot with
33 after, where I called turn but folded river to the same guy (on
7-5-2-6-A), and then decided to cash out. The fishy father/son duo had obviously left/busted ages ago, so the value was not amazing and I started to get tired. Stack when cashing out was something like this:
End result was +$152, and although not a gigantic win I am still very happy with most of the lines I took. However, after getting back to the room at NYNY I got majorly sick, took a nap for 3 hours, stomach felt horrible, but eventually I managed to eat a bit more and just go straight back to bed.
Feeling a bit more refreshed now after all the sleep and rest, so will see if I can find a game and make some good decisions. Here is a picture of Mirage with some ongoing construction from yesterday:
And here are the results so far, which even El Diesel/Vegas Poker Nomad could match on a good day:
Cash Games:
Hours played: 25h 30 min
Won/lost: +$104 USD
Hourly rate: +$4.1 USD
Tournaments:
Won/lost: -$200 USD (1 played)
Last edited by BigWhale; 01-20-2024 at 01:17 PM.