Dateline: Peppermill Casino, Reno, NV

My girlfriend and I took the 3 hour drive from SF Bay Area and arrived yesterday afternoon. There was no 3/5nl game going that night so I choose to take it easy.
While Reno is not a big gambling destination anymore, and less so for poker, the room at the Peppermill is quite nice. Modern, clean, spacious, well run, plush chairs, and a free drink and soup bar.
I sidled up to the one 3/5 uncapped game today after lunch. I sat in with $1200 with only one other guy with an equal stack. This game was pretty much a buddy game with just a couple of us out-of-towners coming and going. Play itself wasn't too bad, but almost entirely straight forward. I was mostly up $100 for the first couple of hours, but probably should have made more but I am still working on value betting, you know, when to check-raise, etc. This gets u the hand of the session:
V1 is loose older guy who is waiting for a seat in the 1/2 game and he plays like this is 1/2.
V2 is a younger guy with $900 in front. First hand he played he flopped quads and jammed overbet the flop forcing opp to fold. 10 minutes later he turns quads and gets paid by a shorter stack. Several minutes later he calls $25 pre flop, calls $45 on low flop, then folds pocket kings face up to a $100 bet on a 10 turn and the winner shows jacks.
V1 raises to $15, V2 calls and I complete in the BB with 33
Flop is A103
Multi way I decide to go with a check-raise. V! bets $30, V2 calls. I make it $90 with only V2 calling after some thought.
Turn is a Q
I guess I could see this guy with KJ, and if it is pocket 10's I'll find out now. I bet $115 and again after much deliberation he calls.
River is the J
An ugly looking card. Would he play AK this way? Thin odds he has spades. I'm still thinking A10, and I think it is losing value and puts oneself in a worse spot to check here. Again this is not a tricky level. This guy bombs the pot when he is ahead only. A bet-fold is the right play imo. I bet $150 into $425. A small bet pot-size wise, but a big bet live. Again after a long pause he calls and I win.
So I was up $500, but ended up $320 after my flopped nut flush that I bet the whole way was beat by a rivered full house. He just called the river, but I would have folded to a raise from this particular player.
I also lost money a couple of other times early on by slow playing a big pair and two-pair. Yea, they got lucky on the river, but I had chances to raise a bet and chose to call instead. Still a lot of NIT in me.

Rakeback(Free alcholol -tip) 4x$3 + $12

Love your river value bet there

Thanks. How many make that bet there?
I was a little nervous, but what could he really have there anyway?

Braving 1/2

No 3/5 when I show up today, so $300 into 1/2 it is. Plays closer to limit pre flop and NL post - lots of limping and limp-calling. Seems you are kinda forced to play along, or just mesmerized into doing it. Those who tried to run over the table usually left empty handed. I mostly played fairly well and there were two big hands worth noting:
I limped along multi way OTB with A3
Flop comes 1075
BB leads for $10 and I call along with another.
Turn is the 4
BB now bets $20. Fold, and I just call. I guess a good player would raise with these added outs.
River is a 2
He now bets $30. My thought was that my straight is quite hidden. This guy seemed decent, so I'm thinking that if I raise big it would still get called because on that board what am I calling twice then raising with? I make it $105. He thinks and thinks. Even says "Missed flush?". But he does fold. Maybe $75would have been a better bet.
So I'm happily up $160 when I get 9's utg+2. Young guy OTB filling out his parlay card does a straddle to $5. Utg calls and I call along with a couple of others. Button quickly makes it $25. Now this is a younger guy who does the cool betting and folding motions like he is some kind of star, so I 100% put him on a squeeze. One guy calls, then utg calls and I make it $90 to go. Squeezer of course insta-folds, other guy folds, but utg calls. What could he possibly have where he goes limp-call-call? Flop comes Ace-rag-rag. He checks. I, of course, should have given up here as his pre flop play has lots of Aces in his hand, but I suppose I'm stuck with a story so I bet $75 which he calls. turn brings a second heart and he jams and I disgustedly fold. I ask him what does he possibly have that he plays that way and he says AK. Well here I am at 1/2 and that does make crazy sense.
So now I'm stuck. I mostly have to fold for another 90 minutes till I rack up -$66.
3/5 was just getting started as I left for a break, so hopefully it will be going later.

Live-not many but then again not many players are thinking players and fewer still are winning players.

The hands he could have that beat you: AK (a lot of guys don't 3bet it preflop), AsTs, and some guys can't fold TP so AsXs is possible. Either way if he raises you OTR it's a trivial fold.

One more 3/5 session at The Peppermill

Sat down with $1000. Played for 4 hours and here are the highlights:

Up $100 fairly quickly. Table is taggy with a couple of Asian ladies who are quite tight. When they raise it is to $30 then bet $200 into $65 on a two-flush flop to protect. One goes broke when she flops bottom set on a dry boards and check/calls her way to doom when a guy goes runner-runner with 7-5 for a straight. The other gets killed by a crazy guy who calls $25 with Q3o and flops two-pair vs kings. The crazy guy bought in for $300 but he tightened way up once he doubled. Anyway, I raised/called an AIPF for $160 deciding to race my jacks vs obvious AK but lost. The next 3 hours was quite uneventful as I dwindled down but got back up to a little above even when my pocket kings got AIPF vs a short stacks pocket queens. Shortly thereafter the main hand of the night happened.
Effective stacks $1000
Villian is middle aged guy like me and he's sitting immediately to my left. He was fairly active, always straddling his button. He was winning on the night. Here I will digress for some history that plays into the hand:
After not being involved for awhile I open raise his button straddle to $25 with A4s. He and the BB call. Flop is K42rr and when BB checks I bet $40 into $75. Both fold and villain asks why so much. I say $40 into $75 is a decent value bet and he say it made him fold his 4. At that point I show him my better 4.
So now I get AQs and again open raise his button straddle, this time to $30. He comes along and we are HU. Flop is Q-6-3 with two spades. I lead for $40 and he quickly makes it $100. So with history and such a small and quick raise I'm not really feeling strength here. Not that I am capable of deep thought in the moment, but my sense is that he's not value raising. We are both deep so I can get away from it when convinced. I probably could have sized it a little larger, but I make it $240 total which he insta-calls. To me that call takes a set out of the equation.
Turn is the king of spades. Like the set of 3's hand from the other day, I feel I cannot give up the initiative here. If he has KQ or a flush so be it. My best play here is again to bet-fold. I slide in $215. He grumbles a little but folds saying he had a queen.
In hindsight was my turn bet correct? With the Way ahead/Way behind concept what am I trying to accomplish with the bet? Am I ever going to get better to fold here? Along those lines would I even be at the turn vs better? So therefore if I feel I'm ahead here why bet so much? Is this a "protect equity" spot where a smaller bet or check opens me up to a tough decision? I believe it is close but I'm OK with the bet there.

Final numbers
Poker: 3/5 8 hours +$680
1/2 5 hours - $116

Craps: 2 hours -$300

On an interesting side note I witnessed a guy hit quads twice in 15 minutes to win the "Quadzilla" promo which entailed a $75 bonus for the first one and then a $300 bonus for the second. The next day I'm playing 1/2 with this guy and he hit quad aces for the $75 which holds up for the "high hand" for another $200. Soon after he wins a hand with quads again holding one card. That final night a guy rivers a 2-card Royal for $400 and wins the $200 for "high Hand" as well.
Overall I witnessed lots of odd/loose/crazy plays. Live poker not dying yet.

Oh yeah, one bad play that final night I failed to mentioned.
This was middle of the session when I was slowly bleeding off chips. I limp early with pocket 4's one guy makes it $25. I'm looking at his stack and it seems like he has maybe $400 chips and cash combined. This "estimation" puts the set-mine decision right at the correct number. Problem is that at that moment I am feeling unconfident due to my stretch of poor cards and I am looking for an excuse to get away from calling then check-folding. He gets a caller and bets pot on a Q-8-4rr flop. If I had asked him I would have found out he had more cash than I reckoned so the call would have been correct, but I admit that I was looking for a reason to fold because I just did not believe I would flop a set or imagine the impact of me hitting a set there. Funny that I found my balls later with that AQ hand and chicken out of a standard call with a pocket pair that plays itself when hit.

A quick history of my continuing on-line experience

I've played internet poker on several different sites since 2007. Pokerroom, Sportsbook, AP, Pokerstars, and now ACR. I've have never put in a ton of hours long term, but I have played my share from 600nl down to 50nl. Compared to live where I would describe myself as a TAGfish, I am a disaster on line. First several years my loses were due to tilt. I was actually a small winner at first, but I could not handle variance at all. A good playing philosophy is to take bad beat at 400nl and go try and get it back at 1000nl. Miraculously I was able to control my monetary input back then so as to keep my overall losses up to Black Friday at around 5k. After a fashion I had a hankering to play more. While live was going OK last year I could only get there so often. I saw something about Americas Card Room and signed up....
What an 18 months it has been. Nearly all my play has been 2-3 tables at 100-50nl and I am getting hammered. How is it possible to have the 2nd best hand so often? I am not some LAGtard on line, my numbers are around 24/14, so a little loose, but I must be an 80-20 loser in big pots. I, of course, recognize that while variance does come into play, my leaks get the better of me. Early on I'm sure I lost a ton playing too many hands OOP. My biggest problem nowadays is extracting value. I've stopped the major bleeding, but I have yet to have a winning month. Should quit, I know, but on line is a guilty pleasure I guess.

Sir, i love this blog, i play a lot online but i have made my living playing live cash games in costa rica for a while and your assessment of live play its quite accurate and similar to what we have here, on the 4's hands yeah you definitely have to call and set mine, online your pot odds do come way more into effect than live games, live games set mining is highly profitable even when they your odds are not quite there ( implied odds are huge live because most people cannot or refuse to fold big hands, which online you will see more often), and i particular like how you played the AQ hand vs this particular villian BUT be aware that a competent villian ( mostly young guys) are going to see a flaw with that line but before i comment more can you please specify which cards were the spades? did you have any spade in your hand?

Yea, the 4's was horrible, and certainly one of my more egregious errors lately, simply in the fact that the hand plays itself one way or the other. Either I miss and fold, or hit and stack. Basically I pussed out. no other excuse.
I had AQ, and I specifically remember that the 6 and 3 were both spades as I was contemplating the chance that either of those made opponent a set. I realize that he did play it like a draw, but even though the worst card in the deck for me hit the turn, I felt like giving up the initiative OOP would lead to trouble compared to bet-folding.
I am interested in hearing your further thoughts, especially how this is exploitable.

A one-time rational whine about internet poker

So being a little older than most, I feel I have acquired some worldly intelligence and wisdom. I'm fairly confident in my ability to view things rationally. An understanding that eludes me is how and why I am such a massive loser at online poker. Trust me, I am not saying that I am "so smart" and I should be destroying the game. I own that fact that my game has leaks and I understand much of the losses. However, I cannot believe the luck I've seemed to lack these last 20 month. My preamble is too dissuade any comments about that I must believe it is rigged in some fashion. I do not. I refuse to use that as a crutch. I also am observant enough to take note of my luck out's vs the outdraws. My memory is not one-sided. Lastly I know that we see 3x as many hands online in a hour compared to live.
OK, all that being said, these last 15 months I have continued to suffer through a non-stop avalanche of bad beats and 2nd best hands. I do not play a thousand hands a day. I play several hundred a week tops. Today, in the latest example, I've played about 250 hands and, while never slow playing a one, I've lost with Kings 3 times AIPF, QQ vs a crappy, loose call two pair, and three other out draws on river. The best one to which I added was at 50nl when a guy limp-called me OOP with A3 vs jacks. Flop came 552s. I bet big and he called. Turn was a 4. I checked intending to call and evaluate. Problem was that he bets $32 into $10. Not expecting this I do the typical dumb online move: My finger was ready to insta-call. In goes $32 before I realize the bet. I've had one for my team when jacks out flopped kings.
So anyway, On top of the out draws, I just can't fathom the number of flops I've bet or called with good BD equity that come a blank; the number of draws on the flop that miss; the number of 2nd best hands I showdown. I've played tight. I've played loose. I've checked instead of bet. I've bet instead of checked. Nothing has worked. I am at a loss to understand why I keep losing and losing. Stats or study, it eludes me. I see my live poker attempt as looking through a glass wall - I can see the other side and its good. With the internet game I feel like I'm in a dungeon. How do I extricate myself from this hole?
I'd be happy to just become a break even player.
/rant

Ok due to the fact the 6 and 3 are both spades you can credible make any villain think you have the AQ of spades, when I said that it was exploitable I meant that on the flop you bet got 3 bet and then u 4bet which live ( please keep in mind this is a live read) usually means protecting a big hand vs a flush so when you bet the spade turn due to your flop action it's hard to think you actually like the turn card and your bet could be exactly what it's was a blocker bet ( this all goes out the window with this particular board my example is more so when the Q and 6 or 3 are spades ) so with the stack sizes I could very well call that bet to pot jam the river when you check to me ( and obv if you jam I have to fold but realistically unless you actually do have it you either check to fold to my jam or slow play and try to trap me when you do have it but with the amount of money on the pot my bluff only needs to work about half of the time to make it worth it ) BUT in this case with the 6 and 3 of spades I think your line it's excellent

wise words maj

Thanks for the input. Another example of deeper level thinking with which I need to become more accustom.

if you want yo, in regards to the internet play, you can request your last 200 hands and i can take a look maybe i can spot some leaks,im not incredible by any means but 2 heads work better than one and i realized that looking at other people hand history also helps me think about my game keep in mind internet and live are 2 different monsters

Thanks for the kind offer. What I'll probably do for now is curtail my online play until California legalizes next year.

Nitty Hands From a Cash Game

Let's go through some action from my most recent session at the local card room:

First off, out of curiosity, I tracked my pvip/pfr. I played 175 hands. First 100 I played at a 20/12. Last 75 at 19/6.

-So I started off with a perfect nitty play. A tight lady with a $140 stack(btw, I buy in for $500 and have everyone but one covered, most have $150-$300)min raises I have A8 and open fold. My feeling is that she is the type to min raise with A10+ and she's too shallow for me to flush hunt. Turns out that a flush would have got there for a medium pot and she won with A2s. Not being results oriented but I should treat a min raise like a limp and go with it I suppose.
My first big pot was another well played adventure. I call $15 in HJ with J9s and BB comes along.
Flop is Q109r. BB checks, OR bets $35 and I call. BB now goes all-in for $300! OR folds. I anticipate folding but it gets to me and I start thinking this: I know this guy a little and he does overplay, so this could be AQ, or even another jack. Also, crazily, that maybe my 9 is live as well. Point being that I was interested in talking myself into calling. Heck, if I win I am up $400 early. I call.
Turn J
River 4
He rolls over Q10 and scoops the nice pot.
So again, as I've done all year, I chase a bad draw+. Funny also the continuing theme of folding less risky holdings like A8s, but shoveling in big amounts with hands like this. So now down $380 early. Oh well. This blog is called "Confessions of a Bad Player" after all.
Very rare for me to comeback after getting buried early, but this time I did, and it did not take some kind of cooler to get there.
-A little later I raise from mp to $15 with 97. Should be more with this type of hand, but there it is. I get two callers.
Flop: Q86. Wow. To CR or not to CR. The optimum play is CR, but with my small raise these others could have anything, so when checked to me I bet $40 and get one check-caller.
Turn is a total blank and now check-caller leads out for $75. I'm not folding, but I can't raise now can I? So call it is.
River: 4. Here's where local play/characters come into the equation. My opponent is an old regular named Jack. On the river he laments, "Oh you might have made a flush", and bets $50. I guess there is merit into raising as a bluff, but he is more nitty than me, so I do not see any reason to raise. He tables AQ, and I scoop a decent pot.
-Raised $20 QJ. Two callers. flop KQJr. Meant to bet $40 but slid out $50 and both fold.
-Call $25 KQ two others call. OR is TTJ, a good reg. He's aggro, but will sometimes fold to bigger river bets on scary boards.
Flop: AQ10.TTJ bets $65 and I am the only caller.
Turn: 2. I called flop with a lot of room for improvement on the turn, but with this card I am done. However TTJ checks in front of me.
River: Q. TTJ checks again. Now with our history I know he rarely CR a river. I also know for sure that if I value bet $100 into $230 he'll fold. I settle on $40, which is probably too low, but not by much. He calls and shows AJ. He then says to me, You are calling the turn...well if I bet $100 maybe not." I coyly reply, "I'll tell you later." But of course I'm not calling any reasonable turn bet.
-I call a young guy's $15 raise with A4s with one other caller, a guy who never saw a hand he did not like.
Flop: 53Jr. We all check
Turn is gin: os2. OR checks again which from what I know means he does not have anything. I should bet here as guy next to me is loose, but I do not really think it through and it gets checked around. River is a 6. Another good reason to bet the turn as now comes a card that should kill action. OR bets $20. I chuckle and call as I believe we are chopping a straight. Other guy folds and OR turns over 55 for a slow-played set! Man, if a guy like me can see these games are easy then it must be easy. I just need to get it through my thick skull that it is about value-value-value and stop limiting my wins.

Ended +$77

This bet, and the idea in general has been on my mind. Yes, I bet an amount that was called. There are always safe bets. But this sizing still is not optimal. On one of Bart Hanson's podcasts I remember something along the lines of "Is it better to bet xx and get called 100% of the time, or bet yy(more) and get called only 60% of the time?" Here is the crux of sizing that separates the men from the boys. I am at least betting and not being a Showdown Monkey, but by not thinking it through I am losing value. In ten similar situations if I bet $40 into a $230 and get called every time that is $400. If I bet $75 into $230 and get called 6/10 times that is $450. River bet sizing is much more of a math problem isn't it?

Mistakes at Greektown

I am out on the road for most of October working the playoffs/World Series for FOX so time at the tables would be rare. Last night, however, we had an early night with the off day so I made my way around the corner from Commerica to the Greektown Casino.
The room itself is nice. It is totally separate from the busy casino. There were 12 tables, but at 8pm there was just one 1/2 game going. An hour later I was in, sitting with $300 in front of me. Table was a mix of young and old and the play was the usually 1/2 silly: Lots of limping, lots of calling with odd hands, lots of bad play in general. One old guy re-raised a $12 raise to $220 with kings and got called by aces.
I was up some early, and I tried to stay patient, but it is impossible to not get sucked into the style of play at these tables when you watch people give their money away. Mistake number one The result was that I starting losing. My $350 went down to $280 in short order - and that was with not even seeing a river. The young guy directly to my left was a good player who also seemed to be unable to miss. After a while I decided to make a stand and re-raised him on a turn where the ISD came in. The raise was not huge and he called after some thought. River was innocuous but I was unable to pull the trigger on a $120 bluff which appears would have worked. Bad play two.
Later I down to $160 and I get KK in the SB. four limpers in front and I make it $11. Mistake three. Yes, I do not want to lose all action, but at this level I'm probably getting calls at $16. I get three callers and we see this flop:
K102
Wet board so I lead for $25 and get called by a young reg who had LC in early position.
Turn is the 3
I count out my stack fully expecting to shove, but I have $125 left and pot is $94. That seems a little awkward. I want to go for value, so I decide on $45and he calls. Bad play four. The idea of going for value is fine, but what value hands could he have? Maybe a set, but I would have found out by now. This has to be only a draw. My thought was a combo in the area of Q9. Therefore, obvious to anyone but me, my bet needs to be more like $85 to AI because if he misses he's done. Mistake five.
River is the 6
I put in my final $85 and he insta-calls with 54 for a straight. A huge draw where I made sure to price him in on the turn. He claimed that he thought I was jamming the turn and he was folding. Maybe, but I did not put him to that test.

The Previous Year

Nov '12 $ -620.00
Dec '12 $ -43.00
Jan '13 $ -516.00
Feb '13 $ +1,056.00
Mar '13 $ -587.00
Apr '13 $ -1,513.00
May '13 $ -1,430.00
Jun '13 $ -221.00
Jul '13 $ -1,183.00
Aug '13 $ -844.00
Sep '13 $ +300.00
Oct '13 $ -300.00

Stoked to have found this. Best part is I was part of some of these hands. Feel free to pm me anytime you want to talk through a hand where I was present.

A Quick Report from Lumiere Place Casino, St. Louis, Mo.

Here in the Gateway City preparing for game 3 of the World Series. We arrived from Boston at noon, and I hoped I would be able to get out early since the show was mostly set up. Things did drag on however and my friend and I did not get into a game till 10pm. Working till 2:30 am in Boston the night before and just a few hours sleep prior to heading to the airport and being back on site at 10:30 the next day meant this was going to be a short session.
Lumiere is a nice casino. The poker room is tucked in the back but doesn't feel cramped. The 2/5 game was $1000 max and I bought in for $600. The play was loose, more loose than I'm used to playing. Most hands would go limp, limp, limp, raise to $30, 5 callers. Flop would come and raiser would bet $100 and get two callers. Basically not much in the way of thoughtful pre flop selection. A good game for a good player, and those who obviously knew what they were doing did well. I dropped down to $485 through missed flops and a continue bet that got CR'd. The one big hand I won went down like this:
I'm in the SB with AKo. Folded to an old guy in the HJ who limps and so does the button. I make it $30 and old guy comes along. He has $390.
Flop: K, 7 4:
I bet $40 and he calls. We see a Q on the turn.
So no diamond and I'm thinking now that I'm going with this hand. I bet $85 and he instantly tosses in two $100 chips. I am working on recognizing betting tells. Despite the player I believe from study and observation that when someone has a value hand they pause to consider value. If the call is quick then it is a draw. If raise is instantaneous then it is a semi-bluff. Not 100%, but a good rule of thumb. I know he likes his equity, but with one card to come I'm definitely getting it all in, which is what happens.
River is the 6 and he shows Q9
I'm up to $880 but don't win another pot. I got several pocket pairs with which I called raises vs deeper stacks, but not a one hit. After a couple of hours my tiredness made me play too cautious, so I racked up +$80.
In the last hour I was there Orel Hershiser player at our table. He is an amiable guy and can play fairly loose, but knows when to fold aces. He won two all-ins. One he limped/shoved $200 PF with 108 and was up against AK and he hit an 8. The other he raised to $30 after a couple of limpers and got two callers. He bet a 9,5, 5, and he calls an all-in for $200. A heart hit the turn and he wins with 23 vs a limped/called 53os!
Lastly, I am curious of people's opinions concerning the button straddle. Even though I rarely do it, I think the utg straddle is fine. If a player wants to attempt to build a pot from the worst position so be it. On the flip side, how is allowing the button to close the action pre flop and have ultimate position post flop good for the game?

Finally got my act together with some photos:

One of the two huge poker rooms at The Commerce




Not the best photo ever of the nice poker room at the Peppermill in Reno


Fenway


The Four Teammates


Detroit


Poker room at the Lumiere


St. Louis

Only time I have seen button straddle, he closes action unless there is a raise, then he simply acts in turn.

Looks like this World Series is going 7 games. Will not be home until the
2nd at the latest.
Looking forward to some increased time at the tables as well as playing in some new and different places.
On the 5th the new Casino in Rohnert Park, 10 minutes from my house, is opening. The 340,000sqft casino will include an 18 table poker room




At the end of the month I'll be taking a work trip that will include a night in New Orleans, so I will be visiting Harrah's.

Then the weekend of Dec 6th I will be in Vegas. I have a timeshare and the Vegas location is near The MGM, but I will play elsewhere as well.

Looking forward to playing more. 5 hours a month doesn't cut it.