Appreciate the feedback, guys! More hands below.
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After updating the TR this morning, I went for a quick trip to the gym:
Feeling very refreshed afterwards, I quickly got ready, and after a little bit of VP here at Mandalay Bay, I took an Uber over to Venetian.
After getting a quick 20 massage there in the Grand Canal Shoppes (felt amazing), I quickly got a set in a new $1/$3 game that started up. Table was very passive and limp-happy, although certainly not terrible or way too tight.
My first involvement came when there was 4 limps, and I find
QQ on the button. I make it $20 and two of the limpers call. Flop comes
A-4-6, and after the first limper checks the second bets out $65. Pretty much pot, and I don't think I can continue against that sizing. I fold, and the first limper also follows suit. The guy who bets out shows an Ace while raking in the pot.
Then I raise
KTdd to $12 from second position, and get 3 callers. Flop comes pretty terrible, with
A-6-8 two hearts, no diamonds. It checks through. 2h on the turn, a guy bets and I fold. Think starting a bluff on this board against 3 opponents would be pretty bad/spewy.
Very next hand I get
AQ (black cards), and make it $12 again. 3rd position calls, and SB calls. Flop comes
Q-7-6 all diamonds, and SB checks to me. I bet $25, and only the initial caller continues. We see
Ad on the turn, which gives me two pair but puts 4 to a flush out there. Opponent, a black guy in his 30s, bets out $25. Very small sizing, and this guy have said some things that makes it very clear he is new to live poker. So I call.
River is a random black
4, and after I check he bets $60, leaving himself around $10 behind. I was tempted to call, but I just think that I will get shown a flush way too often here. I don't think he will dare to bet a ton of flushes except Kd and maybe Jd, but there are still many combos containing these out there. So I make a reluctant fold, and he does not show. So I guess we will never know.
I add on $100 more and continue losing. Most interesting spot, which I probably misplayed, was when I raise
AJo to $15 over a limp. I get no less than 4 callers behind, and we see the
A-5-4 rainbow flop. Seems fairly safe, but this multiway I chose to go very small with only betting $20 into $75 or so. Two players in the field call.
Turn in an
8, which fills in the obvious draw in 67. I therefore decided to check, but I think this a mistake. I should rather bet something like $50 and continue to charge worse Aces, and if someone has a straight I will probably hear from them.
It does however check around, and the river is a
6. It's 4 to a straight out there, but I sort-of dismissed that option after turn checked through. So I bet $41 to target the few Ax-combos that does not have two pair - which is way too optimistic as we are only talking about AT and A9 really. A better play is probably to check, and if it goes check-check-check I will win 99% of the time. But if someone bets, I am likely beat.
As it was I bet, the first player folded, and the second player went in the tank. He seemed unsure, before finally grabbing his remaining $100 and sloppily throw them over the line. I am getting pretty good potodds here ($276 in the pot, and only $59 more to call). But really, can I be good here one out of 5 times or whatever? Seems extremely unlikely, and I also think opponent's behavior was an act. So I folded. I should however have bet the turn, and as played I should have checked the river.
Lose a few more small ones and have to add on another $100. Then there is a limp for $3 from UTG, and I make it $15 with
66 from 3rd position.A new guy to the table calls, and the limper calls. Flop comes
K-J-6 two diamonds, which is pretty amazing as I have the virtual nuts. UTG checks, and I start out with a bet of $25.
I want to make it clear that this is a sizing mistake; with pot being $49 I can easily bet $35-$40 here and get the same result. I unblock top pair, which is great, and there are so many hand combination that will continue to practically any sizing here. I sort-of have that idea in my head, but I am too used to bet smaller and don't always think hard enough about what a 'big' bet is.
Either way, back to the action. The first caller actually makes it $65, and I am fist-pumping inside while thinking on how to proceed. Then the guy from UTG starts asking how much the raise was before announcing all-in! I give it 5 seconds and announce all-in too (for slightly less). The third guy sighs but pretty much insta-call as well.
I figure I have to hold against a huge draw here, but that was not the case. UTG shows
KJo, I show my set, and the third guy only has
AK (no 3-bet pre, and massive overplay post given action). Turn is a
4 and river is a
T, and just like that I drag in a massive pot well over $800 USD. Gotta love that.
I play a fun hand shortly after against the KJ-guy, when there are 5 limps and I find
99 in BB. I raise to $21, and he is the only caller. Flop comes
A-T-J, which I think is amazing for my percieved range. I decide to go bet-bet-bet here unless he tells me otherwise, as his range for limp-calling should have trouble with holding on here. Yes, he did limp-call with KJo earlier, but unless he has something like JT here I should be good to go.
I bet $20, he calls. Turn comes a random
4, I bet $55 and he folds. It's so fun taking down pots like that, where the cards in my actual hand don't really matter that much. The board is just so good, and opponent so rarely can have a big piece here.
Then the AK-guy straddles UTG, two players call, and I complete for $3 more from BB with
97o. The straddler wasn't really a guy to attack dead money, so I almost viewed this as a limped pot where I check my option from BB. And he does indeed check.
Flop comes
9-8-6 two clubs, and SB checks. I considered leading, but check, and it checks around. Turn is a
2, and SB now leads for $15. I call, and the other two folds. River is a
5, so we make the straight. He checks, and I decide on a bet of $37. Maybe I could have gotten even higher, but when he checks I doubt he is super strong. He does think about it for a while, but ends up calling - which is good news.
After 3-betting QQ a bit later and taking it down pre, we have a pretty good stack:
I did however lose a bit after that, first when I raise
Q9dd to $12 from lojack. Button and BB call, and we go 3-ways to
Q-2-4 one diamond. BB checks, and I was going to bet but then noticed BTN make a motion as if reaching for chips. So I changed my mind and checked it over to him, only to see him check behind.
Turn comes
5c, which puts a backdoor flushdraw out there. BB checks, and I bet $20. To my surprise, they both call. I realize I probably need to be cautious on some rivers, and the
6c seems to fit the bill. BB check, I check, praying that it checks down and that I win. Not to be however, as BTN fires out $100 (into $97). Massive bet, and I strongly assume he made a flush. So I have to fold when it gets back to me. The mistake here was to not bet flop however.
I was going to leave after my UTG-hand, but then I find
99 in the hole. Have to play that one, so we make it $12. Once again, a cascade of callers (5 in total). Flop comes
A-T-8 two hearts, and there are too many opponents here to do anything but check. It checks through.
Same happens on a
6 turn, although I briefly considered betting. That said, any Tx will likely call and I cannot beat that. So we go to the
9 river. Any 7 have a straight, and once again I think I make a mistake by betting when it checked to me. And especially for $46, which is more than half pot. With no one having shown much interest here, I need to go much lower to get paid I think.
Instead a new Asian player to the table min-clicks it back to $92, as people often do here in Vegas.I am pretty sure he is gonna show me a straight, but for only $46 more I don't think I can do anything but call. So I flick it in, and he shows
QJo as expected.
I was going to leave anyway, so that is what I do even though it sucks losing over $100 in the last hand. But overall it was a good session, where I cashed out as a $278 USD winner. This time I do however think that I made two very similar mistakes - both involving betting out for value on 4-straight boards when I don't have a straight myself.
Now I'm gonna take a very quick trip to the Mandalay Bay pool, and then decide where to play tonight.
Cash Games:
Hours played: 5h 15 min
Won/loss: +$433 USD
Hourly rate: $82.5 USD
Tournaments:
Profit/loss: +$146 USD (1 played)