11/1/18...Aria
New month, new season of PLO. Walk into aria at 10 am after seeing some PLO action on Bravo. Get there and game is already broken and a new list is starting. Wait about 30 minutes. I have somewhere I have to be at 2 pm and I'm hungry so I hop on the Aria tram, travel to Bellagio and start walking around the strip. I drop by Ballys and Flamingo to see what they're up to promo wise this month and its the same old stuff as last month. Eat some spaghetti and meatballs at flamingo food court. So much better than that Pan Asian express that I use to eat there. I think Panda express is kind of garbage but Pan Asian express would be where Panda express dumps its leftover garbage.
I head back to Aria to pick up my car and probably go home but there's a seat open at 2/5 PLO. Well I got an hour and a half to burn at this point so I sit. Run my stack up a little bit and run into this hand.
A
A
T
Q
3 Bet a raise and a call to 220 and it goes 3 way (effective starting stacks ~800).
Flop. K
J
3
We stick it in and run it twice against initial raiser's KKxx and lose both runouts. Aw well. Looks like we're breaking even for the day. Dealer is about to rotate and I need to go so I grab a rack to leave.
One more hand...(famous last words)
Look down at Q
7
4
4
and complete a raise to 40.
Long story short, I take a bet (150), Pot (650), Jam (1150) line on
7
5
2
A
T
runout and get hero called on river by A769 no flush draw
I decide not to rack up my $1 that I have behind (blue chips don't play) and give it to the valet instead. Flamingo sounds nice right now.
11/2/18 Journey begins @ flamingo
Its a friday and the game at flamingo is actually pretty good. SEMA is in town and it brings good action. I whine about nits but ultimately I nit it up this session. One must be a nit to defeat a nit. 2 noteworthy hands
H1. SEMA player blind raises to $5 in the SB, dealer tells him its fine if the action doesn't change. I'm UTG with A
7
and decide I'd rather change the action than open myself up to getting limp reraised by the guys behind me when SB puts in his blind raise. I raise to $8 and it goes 4 way including a high action player in the BB.
Flop:
7
T
3
SEMA has not looked at his hand yet and blind bets $10, BB calls and I call and we see a turn.
Turn:
7
T
3
8
SEMA still has not looked and he checks, BB bets $25, I call, and SEMA finally looks at his hand, laughs and then calls.
River:
7
T
3
8
6
Checks to me, I bet 65. Now at this point, I'd been playing tight to the point where when I played my first two hands, the SEMA guy and BB needled me saying I just woke up and welcomed me to the game. So clearly I have something good here right? SEMA announces he has to go home anyways and jams 160. I call and he shows up 6
8
. Ok.
H2.
2 limpers and I make it 15 with K
Q
. Goes 4 way with SB flatting who is a very straightforward tightish player who has about 600 effective stacks with me.
Flop
K
8
8
SB leads out for 30 and folds to me. I put him mostly on Kx, two diamonds, even AK, and almost never an 8x in his flat or lead range. He will 3 bet AA and KK in his spot 100% so thats not a thing. I flat.
Turn
K
8
8
3
He checks, I check being a little concerned about flatted AK.
River
K
8
8
3
8
He thinks for a bit and bets 35. I want to get him off a chop. I probably don't have 8x too often but I could definitely have KK or AA. Meh. I announce a raise to 400. Dealer asks me to repeat. I say 400. Dealer asks me to repeat. I stick out 400 chips. SB folds A
Q
face up. Bad read by me.
11/3/18 flamingo part 2
I always wake up really early in the morning. I've turned into a morning person over the past 4 years. I must be turning into one of the OMCs slowly. I sometimes go to bed at 9 pm. Nothing really is running at flamingo so I head over to Aria at 7:30 and plan on hit and running before I go to flamingo. Play a little 2/5 NL and seat opens up at 2/5 PLO. Unfortunately, the game is really good today. Run my stack up a bit and then this hand happens.
Limped pot 5 way. I hold KJJ8 (suits irrelevant)
Action player pots 55 on
J
6
2
Reg calls, I make it 255, player makes it 900, folds to me, I make it POT, and we stick it in about 3.5k effective.
Runout:
J
6
2
5
3
Player tables 6649 for the straight. We're about 93% on flop. Damn.
Reload and double up later vs same player in a 3 bet pot with bottom pair and inside wrap and we get there. Feels good to break even. Player busts and it's time to head to Flamingo where the real grind starts.
H1.
We raise A
T
in MP to 10 and a very strong player in the SB calls BTN and we go heads up. He is out of town, comes off to me as clearly a 2/5 or 5/10+ player. I asked him what he's doing here and he says he is in town and staying at flamingo and kind of screwing around in the games before the fight starts. Says he was trying to play on WSOP.com and internet connection kept going out. All his sizings during this session clearly indicate he plays online and is very aware of the online metagame (though its not necessarily good live like cbetting 1/4th pot). Time to battle.
Flop K
T
4
I check, he bets 12, I call
Turn K
T
4
5
I check, he overbets 55 I call.
River K
T
4
5
6
I check, he jams 180. I call here. He wins the battle with K
T
.
He asks me if I had QQ. I would never call with QQ or JJ. A
T
actually ends up being one of the best bluff catchers in this spot. We block TT, there's only 2 combos of KTs left, he won't have T4 or K4, or KK. We unblock QJ and we unblock hearts. QQ is a much worse hand than AT here especially if we hold the Q
because it blocks too much bluff combos. I think his 3 street value range is TT, 44, KT and he definitely seems the type to be able to shovel in his combo hearts. He will check river with Kx. Of course I fold vs anyone else.
H2.
I raise a few limpers to 12 with AA on the BTN and SB who is new and just sat down 3 bets me to 35. He only has about 180 and he feels like he could be doing it light so I decide to just flat here. I fully expect a cbet near 100% of the time from the 3 bettors at these games so I figure i'll just raise or flat flops and find a turn or river to get it in.
Flop JT3 rainbow, He bets 25, I raise to 55, he calls.
Turn A
he checks, I bet 55, he gets it in and I lose to KQo
11/4/18 Daylight savings
Oh ****, its daylight savings. I don't find this out til I arrive at aria at 7:30. No wonder I woke up earlier than usual. I find a 5 handed 2/5 PLO running and sit down. Table breaks immediately before I even get dealt a hand. Another reg at the table offers to pay for everyone's time. Table declines. Floor walks over and offers a pass. 2 reluctantly agree but quit the game after 10 min of getting run over. I play the reg HU for 1.5 hours. He gets me stuck for ~1k but I climb back to even by the time a 3rd player sits down.
H1 Heads up. Reg raises to 30 and I make it 90 with A
K
Q
8
.
Flop J
T
3
I check going for a check pot, reg checks back.
Turn J
T
3
Q
I check, reg checks back
River J
T
3
Q
5
Reg says "if you have a royal you're good"
I say "lemme check" and I look down at my cards and then bet 125. Reg snap calls. Royal flush is good. Lol
But off to flamingo where the real grind starts.
Sorry, no noteworthy interesting hands happen. I finish my first 15 hours at flamingo and then head to ballies to do 4.5 hours. Lock up that sweet ass Buffet voucher. Do well at flamingo and get crushed at ballies (I usually get crushed at ballies and harrahs) Games were decent for the 3rd day in a row at both locations but today I felt like grinding a bunch of tables on WSOP.com so I ended up tablet grinding for about 8 hours at flamingo and ballies. Being antisocial on a tablet is pretty bad for the game. But everytime I've done it, a lot of people around me ask if I'm playing for real money on WSOP.com. Despite all the ads and banners in the caesar's rooms, people apparently aren't too aware online poker is still a thing. So maybe I'm doing a good cause spreading the awareness.
Also its the only way I can actually attempt to hit diamond tier this year as I'm way behind.
Actually 1 noteworthy hand maybe at ballys. Here we go.
I get A
7
in the BB and it limps around and I check 6 ways.
Flop A
K
4
I check and BTN bets 10 and only I call
Turn A
K
4
3
I check, BTN bets 20 and I call
River A
K
4
3
4
Well this guy limped BTN. I eliminate AK AA KK (maybe a big mistake hahahaha).
I don't see any heart combos this particular guy would fire multiway. and Quad 4s is unlikely so his top range should be A4 I guess. and 1 combo of K
4
.
I feel like we're chopping here near 100% of the time since his range seems so capped, so like a lagtard, we're gonna try to get him off the chop. I bomb 75 into the river.
He jams about 180ish. I fold. Oopsie. I regret nothing.
Promo Progress
Flamingo +459, 15 hours
Ballys -331, +1 buffet, 4.5 hours
I really don't know how I'm gonna fit southpoint in this month. I can't just forfeit the 24 hours I have there already. Plus free hotdogs for 1 hour of morning play. I'm on the fence but how does anyone turn down free wieners