Another middle-aged white guy Another dream
Another Holiday Weekend Another Winning Session
Even better, 3 winning sessions. I was out of action for a couple of weeks due to weather and travel, so it felt good to come back to a long weekend and win a bunch of $$$. The Ameristar was off the rails all weekend. The HPT main event at the Gates brings a bunch of out-of-staters, plus Valentine’s Day and President’s Day, and all of the rooms in town were packed all weekend. On Friday night, Ameristar wouldn’t start a 2nd Omaha/8 table despite the fact there was ~20 people on the list, so a group of them started it at The Lodge. LOL, it took us a while to get the dealers at Ameristar to figure out how to split pots, must’ve been laughable elsewhere. For the non-Colorado readers, Black Hawk is almost exclusively a hold ‘em town, with only one O/8 table ever (used to be at Golden Gates, now Ameristar), and the dealers just never get to deal it so this isn’t meant to be a knock on them.
Greg Raymer was playing at Ameristar on Saturday and then again on Sunday after he busted out of the HPT. I was taking a break when he was waiting for a table and spent half an hour or so talking with him (he did most of the talking). Really nice guy, very friendly and seemed genuinely social. I later got to play some 30/60 LHE with him but no notable hands involving him. Now I’ve played with a WSOP ME winner and runner up (see post #70). He told me about a variant of mixed game that I’d never heard of before: Dramaha. It’s a combo of 5-card draw and PL Omaha, and the game is played PL. Each player gets 5 cards. There is a betting round, then a flop, then a betting round. Now, you discard as if playing 5CD. Then the dealer brings the turn, and there’s another betting round. Discard, river, betting round, showdown. The pot is split by the best PLO hand and the best 5CD hand. Sounds like it could be very fun and ridiculously swingy.
On Bravo, I could see the lists building on Friday afternoon, so I decided to leave work a little early to make sure I didn’t have to wait too long for a seat. I think there were 100 people waiting for 1/2-100 at some point, definitely was that big on Saturday. I didn’t have to wait too long for a 30/60 seat. I had a great session and won just under $1500 in 6 hours, but can’t recall a single notable hand nor do I have anything written down about it. Suffice it to say I ran really good, and the tables were very soft. Oh yeah, 5 tables of 30/60! There are 17 tables in the room, so it’s pretty crazy for the biggest game to take up nearly 1/3 of them. And there was still a list…
Saturday was fairly crazy, poker-wise. I checked Bravo in the morning, and there were two 30/60 tables that went overnight (but only one 1/2-100). I sat at 2/5-100 HE for around 45 minutes before my seat at 30/60 opened up. I had a great 2/5 table, I’ve kinda forgotten what it’s like to play in those games. My favorite hand of this 45 minute session: UTG raises to 15, 2 calls, I raise to 65 from the cutoff with AK, button calls, and so does everybody else! Pot is 325 preflop, flop is 442, 3 checks to me and I bet 100, button folds, UTG looks pained and eyeballs me so hard I thought I might get blasted out of my seat, but he lays it down, as do the other two. Easy game! I’m up $260 when my 30/60 seat finally opens.
More poker later, here’s a photo of my recent trip to Sayulita, I highly recommend it for those who just want to relax for a few days. Fly a few hours to Puerto Vuyarta, then take the public bus to the end of the line for an hour (35 pesos, around $3). Not super cheap but still inexpensive, and lots of good food and cervezas, and surfer girls:
It’s a day off from work, I’m going to celebrate with the last of the 2 Below from my New Belgium Folly pack, don’t know why they stopped making this a seasonal, it’s much better than the white IPA they replaced it with:
Even better, 3 winning sessions. I was out of action for a couple of weeks due to weather and travel, so it felt good to come back to a long weekend and win a bunch of $$$. The Ameristar was off the rails all weekend. The HPT main event at the Gates brings a bunch of out-of-staters, plus Valentine’s Day and President’s Day, and all of the rooms in town were packed all weekend. On Friday night, Ameristar wouldn’t start a 2nd Omaha/8 table despite the fact there was ~20 people on the list, so a group of them started it at The Lodge. LOL, it took us a while to get the dealers at Ameristar to figure out how to split pots, must’ve been laughable elsewhere. For the non-Colorado readers, Black Hawk is almost exclusively a hold ‘em town, with only one O/8 table ever (used to be at Golden Gates, now Ameristar), and the dealers just never get to deal it so this isn’t meant to be a knock on them.
Greg Raymer was playing at Ameristar on Saturday and then again on Sunday after he busted out of the HPT. I was taking a break when he was waiting for a table and spent half an hour or so talking with him (he did most of the talking). Really nice guy, very friendly and seemed genuinely social. I later got to play some 30/60 LHE with him but no notable hands involving him. Now I’ve played with a WSOP ME winner and runner up (see post #70). He told me about a variant of mixed game that I’d never heard of before: Dramaha. It’s a combo of 5-card draw and PL Omaha, and the game is played PL. Each player gets 5 cards. There is a betting round, then a flop, then a betting round. Now, you discard as if playing 5CD. Then the dealer brings the turn, and there’s another betting round. Discard, river, betting round, showdown. The pot is split by the best PLO hand and the best 5CD hand. Sounds like it could be very fun and ridiculously swingy.
On Bravo, I could see the lists building on Friday afternoon, so I decided to leave work a little early to make sure I didn’t have to wait too long for a seat. I think there were 100 people waiting for 1/2-100 at some point, definitely was that big on Saturday. I didn’t have to wait too long for a 30/60 seat. I had a great session and won just under $1500 in 6 hours, but can’t recall a single notable hand nor do I have anything written down about it. Suffice it to say I ran really good, and the tables were very soft. Oh yeah, 5 tables of 30/60! There are 17 tables in the room, so it’s pretty crazy for the biggest game to take up nearly 1/3 of them. And there was still a list…
Saturday was fairly crazy, poker-wise. I checked Bravo in the morning, and there were two 30/60 tables that went overnight (but only one 1/2-100). I sat at 2/5-100 HE for around 45 minutes before my seat at 30/60 opened up. I had a great 2/5 table, I’ve kinda forgotten what it’s like to play in those games. My favorite hand of this 45 minute session: UTG raises to 15, 2 calls, I raise to 65 from the cutoff with AK, button calls, and so does everybody else! Pot is 325 preflop, flop is 442, 3 checks to me and I bet 100, button folds, UTG looks pained and eyeballs me so hard I thought I might get blasted out of my seat, but he lays it down, as do the other two. Easy game! I’m up $260 when my 30/60 seat finally opens.
More poker later, here’s a photo of my recent trip to Sayulita, I highly recommend it for those who just want to relax for a few days. Fly a few hours to Puerto Vuyarta, then take the public bus to the end of the line for an hour (35 pesos, around $3). Not super cheap but still inexpensive, and lots of good food and cervezas, and surfer girls:
It’s a day off from work, I’m going to celebrate with the last of the 2 Below from my New Belgium Folly pack, don’t know why they stopped making this a seasonal, it’s much better than the white IPA they replaced it with:
Huh? You mean the lack of activity in this blog? I've been busy with work lately. Or do you mean the 2 Below? Anyway, thanks for using only your 2nd post in the last 3 years to bump my thread!
Another Pocket Pair another Set
I’ve been working a lot of hours lately so I’ve not had a chance to keep up the blog. I’ll try to finish up this weekend’s entry and then go back and update the past few weeks. I didn’t play Friday because the weather was dicey, and I don’t like driving back when the roads are icy. Plus, I put in lots of long days and was tired. I got to the Ameristar around 200 on Saturday afternoon, a little earlier than usual since I was energized from my morning run. The lists were already long, there were 4 30/60 LHE tables running and Omaha/8 (2/5-100) had one table and 12 on the list. As a small aside, back in Nov/Dec I thought the O/8 game was going to die off but instead it has picked up steam. Last night (Saturday) they ran a second table, and both tables were still going when I left at 1230. Might be time to make that a main game again.
I helped start a new 2/5-100 HE table when I got there, and it was ridiculously soft. So many limpers and weak raises. And I was catching good cards and hitting flops. I actually had them roll my name on the 30/60 list (they started a 5th table) a couple of times because this table was so juicy. I played there for about 75 minutes and racked up +$700 or so before I finally took my 30/60 seat. Here’s a few of the more interesting hands:
1) 1st or 2nd orbit, a couple of limpers, and button, who has limped almost every hand, raises to $15. I call with QJs in the SB, 4 of us see a flop of Qxx, checked to preflop raiser who now bets another $15. I c/r to $35, raiser calls. I’m not psyched by this call but fire another $35 on a blank turn and he just calls again. River is a J, giving me top 2, and I bet $55 which he also calls. He didn’t show. A good start to the session.
2) Limpy guy (LG) on my right limps from UTG+2, I raise AJo to $20, calling station/bluffy guy on my left calls, folded back to LG who calls. Axx flop, LG and I both check (station bets essentially 100% of the time it is checked to him), station bets $30 into $65, LG folds and I c/r to $100, station calls, and then calls $100 on both the turn and river. He says A is good, I table and he mucks.
3) UTG (new player, seems to know what he’s doing?) raises to 10 (ok, maybe not), calls from MP, cutoff, and button, I raise QJo to 60 from SB, UTG folds, MP ships for $142 total, cutoff and button fold, and I call. Figure this is essentially a flip, every time I see this play it’s a small/medium pair. Board runs A47QK, he shows TT, MHIG. This was a nice setup because now everyone at the table thinks I’m crazy.
4) Same UTG as last hand raises to $15, cutoff and button (LG from hand 2) call, I raise to $70, 2 folds and button calls (!). Flop is J23, and I c/f to his $100 bet. Then he tells me nice fold. Whatever. I never understand the fish “strategy” but I guess that’s why they’re fish. I guess I wanted a preflop fold but the previous hand set this up. I thought he told the guy next to him he had KJ. Next time he’ll catch the K and stack off to me.
On to the 30/60 LHE game. The title of this post reflects that I flopped, or turned, or rivered, an amazing number of sets. This helped me run my stack up to ~$2400 (from the $1200 I took over from 2/5). But I had some unfortunate hands holding AK in huge pots that cost me a bunch of $$$. Overall I thought the tables were pretty juicy, and I was involved in a lot of hands.
I played a huge hand with wizard-50. Weak guy limps UTG, wiz raises UTG+1, I 3-bet AKo from hijack, cutoff and button both take 3 to the face (wtf!), BB calls, UTG calls, wiz caps and all call. 7 to the flop, pot $855 already! JJx flop, wiz leads, I call, cutoff and button call, others fold. Turn A, wiz bets and I’m the only caller. River K, wiz bets, I’m seriously considering raising but just call because I know he folds if he’s beat. He shows JTs for a flopped 3 of a kind. Some people were surprised by his hand/play but I think he played it fine, I’m capping 100% of my preflop raising range when there are 6 others in the hand.
One of my last hands of the night involved yet another set. I open JJ from UTG+2 and only the BB calls. I’ve never played with him before but he seemed competent and appropriately aggressive. Flop is Q73r, and he c/c my cbet. Turn is a J, and he donks...
We had a bit of history in the same relative positions, I raised preflop with KQ and he called from BB. Flop was KJ6 and he c/c’d, then donked the turn when a 6 fell. I just call here and anticipate raising most rivers. However, he checked the Q on the river, and called my bet. Claimed he had KT, seems plausible, maybe Jx though.
Anyway, I raise my set of Js, thinking last time he just had a pair. And he 3 bets, so I 4 bet, thinking he has 2 pair. When he 5 bets, I think he must have a set of 7s or 3s, and I 6 bet. When he 7 bets, I get a sinking feeling that he slowplayed QQ, which he of course rolls over when I call his river bet. NH dude, I can never put you on that because of preflop.
Other sets:
1) Middle position raises, weak player calls, I call with 33 from cutoff, blinds call. Flop is J93, BB leads, weak player calls, I call. Turn 9, bet/call/raise, BB calls and weak guy tanks for 2 minutes before folding. River J, check/check. He has a 9 of course.
2) We’re 6 handed, wizard-50 opens UTG, I 3 bet AA from cutoff, folds to weak player from hand 1 in BB, he calls. Flop Q52, check/check/bet, BB calls, wiz folds. Turn A, check/bet/raise, I think he’s so bad that he has 34 in his range, but I’m pretty sure I’m ahead and don’t want him to fold in case his hand improves on river. River is a blank, he bets, I raise, he calls and shows me his 52o.
3) Aggro guy raises from UTG+2, weak guy calls, I call 55 from hijack, blinds call. Flop is A53. Checked to raiser who bets, weak guy folds, I just call, blinds both call. Turn K, check/check/bet/call, blinds call. River 3, now any A will call even 2 bets, raiser bets, I raise, blinds fold, raiser calls.
4) Kill pot, folds to killer on the button, SB (loose wacky bluffer) raises, and I 3 bet with AA. Killer folds, SB calls. Flop is AJJ. SB donks, I call. Turn 3, SB donks again and I raise, she folds! Didn’t see that coming.
5) 5 limpers, I raise KK from BB, all call. Qxx flop, I bet, only one caller. River a K for yet another set and get paid.
6) Aggressive reg raises middle position, I 3 bet red 9s from SB, BB calls, reg calls. Flop Q93, I donk, BB raises, reg folds, and I 3 bet, he calls. Turn A, River K, bet/call both streets. He shows a set of 3s, definitely lost the minimum.
Anyways, that’s a lot of sets! I've never had so many in a session in my life, not even close.
However, I had a lot of other good hands that didn’t go so well (KQ<KJ, TT<AJ on a river A in a massive pot), and that JJ vs QQ hand cost me a lot of money, I ended up down $300 at 30/60. But thanks to the 2/5 win I still went home a winner.
Still really busy at work, might not make the Wednesday game this week, but at least I booked Vegas from April 10-13, looking to play some Venetian DSE.
I’ve been working a lot of hours lately so I’ve not had a chance to keep up the blog. I’ll try to finish up this weekend’s entry and then go back and update the past few weeks. I didn’t play Friday because the weather was dicey, and I don’t like driving back when the roads are icy. Plus, I put in lots of long days and was tired. I got to the Ameristar around 200 on Saturday afternoon, a little earlier than usual since I was energized from my morning run. The lists were already long, there were 4 30/60 LHE tables running and Omaha/8 (2/5-100) had one table and 12 on the list. As a small aside, back in Nov/Dec I thought the O/8 game was going to die off but instead it has picked up steam. Last night (Saturday) they ran a second table, and both tables were still going when I left at 1230. Might be time to make that a main game again.
I helped start a new 2/5-100 HE table when I got there, and it was ridiculously soft. So many limpers and weak raises. And I was catching good cards and hitting flops. I actually had them roll my name on the 30/60 list (they started a 5th table) a couple of times because this table was so juicy. I played there for about 75 minutes and racked up +$700 or so before I finally took my 30/60 seat. Here’s a few of the more interesting hands:
1) 1st or 2nd orbit, a couple of limpers, and button, who has limped almost every hand, raises to $15. I call with QJs in the SB, 4 of us see a flop of Qxx, checked to preflop raiser who now bets another $15. I c/r to $35, raiser calls. I’m not psyched by this call but fire another $35 on a blank turn and he just calls again. River is a J, giving me top 2, and I bet $55 which he also calls. He didn’t show. A good start to the session.
2) Limpy guy (LG) on my right limps from UTG+2, I raise AJo to $20, calling station/bluffy guy on my left calls, folded back to LG who calls. Axx flop, LG and I both check (station bets essentially 100% of the time it is checked to him), station bets $30 into $65, LG folds and I c/r to $100, station calls, and then calls $100 on both the turn and river. He says A is good, I table and he mucks.
3) UTG (new player, seems to know what he’s doing?) raises to 10 (ok, maybe not), calls from MP, cutoff, and button, I raise QJo to 60 from SB, UTG folds, MP ships for $142 total, cutoff and button fold, and I call. Figure this is essentially a flip, every time I see this play it’s a small/medium pair. Board runs A47QK, he shows TT, MHIG. This was a nice setup because now everyone at the table thinks I’m crazy.
4) Same UTG as last hand raises to $15, cutoff and button (LG from hand 2) call, I raise to $70, 2 folds and button calls (!). Flop is J23, and I c/f to his $100 bet. Then he tells me nice fold. Whatever. I never understand the fish “strategy” but I guess that’s why they’re fish. I guess I wanted a preflop fold but the previous hand set this up. I thought he told the guy next to him he had KJ. Next time he’ll catch the K and stack off to me.
On to the 30/60 LHE game. The title of this post reflects that I flopped, or turned, or rivered, an amazing number of sets. This helped me run my stack up to ~$2400 (from the $1200 I took over from 2/5). But I had some unfortunate hands holding AK in huge pots that cost me a bunch of $$$. Overall I thought the tables were pretty juicy, and I was involved in a lot of hands.
I played a huge hand with wizard-50. Weak guy limps UTG, wiz raises UTG+1, I 3-bet AKo from hijack, cutoff and button both take 3 to the face (wtf!), BB calls, UTG calls, wiz caps and all call. 7 to the flop, pot $855 already! JJx flop, wiz leads, I call, cutoff and button call, others fold. Turn A, wiz bets and I’m the only caller. River K, wiz bets, I’m seriously considering raising but just call because I know he folds if he’s beat. He shows JTs for a flopped 3 of a kind. Some people were surprised by his hand/play but I think he played it fine, I’m capping 100% of my preflop raising range when there are 6 others in the hand.
One of my last hands of the night involved yet another set. I open JJ from UTG+2 and only the BB calls. I’ve never played with him before but he seemed competent and appropriately aggressive. Flop is Q73r, and he c/c my cbet. Turn is a J, and he donks...
We had a bit of history in the same relative positions, I raised preflop with KQ and he called from BB. Flop was KJ6 and he c/c’d, then donked the turn when a 6 fell. I just call here and anticipate raising most rivers. However, he checked the Q on the river, and called my bet. Claimed he had KT, seems plausible, maybe Jx though.
Anyway, I raise my set of Js, thinking last time he just had a pair. And he 3 bets, so I 4 bet, thinking he has 2 pair. When he 5 bets, I think he must have a set of 7s or 3s, and I 6 bet. When he 7 bets, I get a sinking feeling that he slowplayed QQ, which he of course rolls over when I call his river bet. NH dude, I can never put you on that because of preflop.
Other sets:
1) Middle position raises, weak player calls, I call with 33 from cutoff, blinds call. Flop is J93, BB leads, weak player calls, I call. Turn 9, bet/call/raise, BB calls and weak guy tanks for 2 minutes before folding. River J, check/check. He has a 9 of course.
2) We’re 6 handed, wizard-50 opens UTG, I 3 bet AA from cutoff, folds to weak player from hand 1 in BB, he calls. Flop Q52, check/check/bet, BB calls, wiz folds. Turn A, check/bet/raise, I think he’s so bad that he has 34 in his range, but I’m pretty sure I’m ahead and don’t want him to fold in case his hand improves on river. River is a blank, he bets, I raise, he calls and shows me his 52o.
3) Aggro guy raises from UTG+2, weak guy calls, I call 55 from hijack, blinds call. Flop is A53. Checked to raiser who bets, weak guy folds, I just call, blinds both call. Turn K, check/check/bet/call, blinds call. River 3, now any A will call even 2 bets, raiser bets, I raise, blinds fold, raiser calls.
4) Kill pot, folds to killer on the button, SB (loose wacky bluffer) raises, and I 3 bet with AA. Killer folds, SB calls. Flop is AJJ. SB donks, I call. Turn 3, SB donks again and I raise, she folds! Didn’t see that coming.
5) 5 limpers, I raise KK from BB, all call. Qxx flop, I bet, only one caller. River a K for yet another set and get paid.
6) Aggressive reg raises middle position, I 3 bet red 9s from SB, BB calls, reg calls. Flop Q93, I donk, BB raises, reg folds, and I 3 bet, he calls. Turn A, River K, bet/call both streets. He shows a set of 3s, definitely lost the minimum.
Anyways, that’s a lot of sets! I've never had so many in a session in my life, not even close.
However, I had a lot of other good hands that didn’t go so well (KQ<KJ, TT<AJ on a river A in a massive pot), and that JJ vs QQ hand cost me a lot of money, I ended up down $300 at 30/60. But thanks to the 2/5 win I still went home a winner.
Still really busy at work, might not make the Wednesday game this week, but at least I booked Vegas from April 10-13, looking to play some Venetian DSE.
With those hands and including the big loss on QQ vs. JJ you should still be up 25+ bets.
And when you had the last aggression preflop, you aren't 'donking' even if you are out of position. Donking is defined as betting into the preflop raiser, mainly on the flop.
And when you had the last aggression preflop, you aren't 'donking' even if you are out of position. Donking is defined as betting into the preflop raiser, mainly on the flop.
Another Friday of Smashing Flops
Superbusy at work this week and was happy to wrap up a few problems so I could get to the Ameristar just before 7. My 30/60 seat at the must-move opened a few minutes later. The lineup was a good mix of solid regs and total fish. Unlike last session, in which I had a lot of pocket pairs and ended up with several sets by the river (always on the flop when my pairs were small), I had mostly big cards and connected with flops nearly every time. KJo was my hand last night, I won with this several times. It’s often a hand I will fold preflop (Sklansky/Malmuth Group 5, and they even call it out for special attention from the BB). Nonetheless, it worked very well for me yesterday. Here’s a few hands of note.
First orbit, Hero opens KJ from UTG+3 when we’re down a player or two, button (unknown 30ish Asian guy) 3-bets, blinds fold, Hero calls. We see a flop of ATQ. Hero c/r and 4 bets, in case a bad card comes and kills my action. Turn is a meh card, Q, and I bet and button just calls. River is perfect, K, and I bet again, now I hope he has AA/QQ/AQ, but he just calls and I show my first royal flush in recent memory, he mucks (AK?).
Strong reg raises UTG, weak rec player calls UTG+1, folds to Hero in BB with same KJ, I call. Flop is JJ5. Hero cks, UTG bets, rec calls, I c/r, UTG folds, rec calls. I bet both blank turn and river and get called on each street. Rec mucks after I show.
Nitty reg open limps middle position directly to my right, I raise KJo because I think he’s weak (small pair or possibly suited connectors, he rarely open limps so his range is narrow), folds to SB, who calls, BB also calls. Flop is K84 2-tone, my K is the right suit. SB donks, BB folds, nitty reg calls, Hero raises and both call. Turn is a blank, SB ck/f, nit ck/c. River is a baby spade, nit thinks about it and cks, Hero cks behind?? He tells me just one small pair, I table and he mucks. Not sure about the check behind, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a flush there because he can’t think I’ll bet the river, but I think he’ll probably fold a one-pair hand there.
A couple of other big winning hands when I 3-bet KK from the BB in a 4-way pot, Q9866 and one of the fish paid me each street. And AQo in the cutoff in kill pot after same fish limps UTG, killer calls from SB, BB calls. Qxy flop, A turn, z river and he pays me again.
I never have a stop-win as that seems silly, if I feel good and the game is good I keep playing. However, last night I decided to rack up after just 2 hours and book a >$1500 win. Gotta go to work today, maybe will get back to Astar tonight if I can beat down some writing assignments. Plenty of run-good last night, and I think I got max value nearly every hand.
Superbusy at work this week and was happy to wrap up a few problems so I could get to the Ameristar just before 7. My 30/60 seat at the must-move opened a few minutes later. The lineup was a good mix of solid regs and total fish. Unlike last session, in which I had a lot of pocket pairs and ended up with several sets by the river (always on the flop when my pairs were small), I had mostly big cards and connected with flops nearly every time. KJo was my hand last night, I won with this several times. It’s often a hand I will fold preflop (Sklansky/Malmuth Group 5, and they even call it out for special attention from the BB). Nonetheless, it worked very well for me yesterday. Here’s a few hands of note.
First orbit, Hero opens KJ from UTG+3 when we’re down a player or two, button (unknown 30ish Asian guy) 3-bets, blinds fold, Hero calls. We see a flop of ATQ. Hero c/r and 4 bets, in case a bad card comes and kills my action. Turn is a meh card, Q, and I bet and button just calls. River is perfect, K, and I bet again, now I hope he has AA/QQ/AQ, but he just calls and I show my first royal flush in recent memory, he mucks (AK?).
Strong reg raises UTG, weak rec player calls UTG+1, folds to Hero in BB with same KJ, I call. Flop is JJ5. Hero cks, UTG bets, rec calls, I c/r, UTG folds, rec calls. I bet both blank turn and river and get called on each street. Rec mucks after I show.
Nitty reg open limps middle position directly to my right, I raise KJo because I think he’s weak (small pair or possibly suited connectors, he rarely open limps so his range is narrow), folds to SB, who calls, BB also calls. Flop is K84 2-tone, my K is the right suit. SB donks, BB folds, nitty reg calls, Hero raises and both call. Turn is a blank, SB ck/f, nit ck/c. River is a baby spade, nit thinks about it and cks, Hero cks behind?? He tells me just one small pair, I table and he mucks. Not sure about the check behind, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a flush there because he can’t think I’ll bet the river, but I think he’ll probably fold a one-pair hand there.
A couple of other big winning hands when I 3-bet KK from the BB in a 4-way pot, Q9866 and one of the fish paid me each street. And AQo in the cutoff in kill pot after same fish limps UTG, killer calls from SB, BB calls. Qxy flop, A turn, z river and he pays me again.
I never have a stop-win as that seems silly, if I feel good and the game is good I keep playing. However, last night I decided to rack up after just 2 hours and book a >$1500 win. Gotta go to work today, maybe will get back to Astar tonight if I can beat down some writing assignments. Plenty of run-good last night, and I think I got max value nearly every hand.
I hope you ended up with a profit this past Friday. I thought that game was fairly tough, not much gambool, and not typical for a weekend night. What's your opinion on that? I should have stayed at the 2/5 table. Made $1k in only a couple of hours there, then gave it all back at 30/60...
I hope you ended up with a profit this past Friday. I thought that game was fairly tough, not much gambool, and not typical for a weekend night. What's your opinion on that? I should have stayed at the 2/5 table. Made $1k in only a couple of hours there, then gave it all back at 30/60...
Another LV Trip Report
Cliffs
- Boulder->Boston->DC->Vegas
- Tourney cash
- Hash House A GoGo
- Holsteins
- Smashed by the deck at Bellagio 40-80 LHE
It’s been almost a month since my last update, not much to report in that time. Still really busy with work so haven’t been able to play much, just a couple of sessions at Ameristar since then, one a huge loss and the other a solid win. But, I expect to get back to both the home game and the Ameristar now that I’ve beaten down some of the work stuff.
I had some work travel the past couple of weeks, and prior to that I’d decided that I needed some poker R&R, so I convinced my buddy, Iggy, to go to Vegas with me from Wednesday-Saturday. A couple of night at Orleans, one at TI, and then outta town. Part of the timing was Venetian Deep Stacks. I don’t play many tournaments but thought I’d take a shot at a couple of non-NLHE “survivor” events.
No taxi line at McCarran on a Wednesday afternoon, we checked in to Orleans quickly and found that my friend had $15 in slot bonuses to use, complements of his now ex-gf using his card for play there. Cab over to the Venetian with plenty of time to register for the 3 PM HORSE tournament. This is a $300 buy in “survivor” event, with 12% getting paid $2000, so the juice is only 16.7%, I think this is on the low side for a moderate buy in event that plays 8-handed.
I start off by winning the very first hand, but then can’t win anything until the very last hand of Stud/8 when I make a flush on 6th with a draw to a 7-low and cap it 3 ways, but I whiff 7th and split the pot. I’m not doing too well at this point and am in slightly rough shape in level 6 I get dealt (AA)J in stud/8, there’s a raise in front of me by a guy with a 9 up card, and another 9 out there, I 3-bet and get it to heads-up, and he 4-bets. Pretty sure he doesn't have rolled up 9s because of the other 9 showing. I know I’m gonna be all-in on this hand, and he’s got a pair in the hole that beats JJ, I just have to hold on. My hand doesn’t improve by the end but neither does his QQ and I double up into the above average stack zone. Iggy got knocked out around now when his AK flush got beat by a steel wheel in stud.
I got to the final table (9 players, 6 get paid $2K and 1 $1716 because of the 55 entries) in okay shape. There were 2 short stacks, and they both busted out pretty quickly. Now it was just a waiting game. Five of the stacks were comfortably getting $2K, I had one of the two short stacks and was slightly ahead of the other short stack, an older woman who I had played with all day. When we reached the break after level 9 (it’s now midnight, been playing 9 hours), I had a 2:1 chip lead over her, and I offered to give her $100 and call it a night. That seemed about right, she was getting 1/3 of the difference between 6th and 7th. At first she said she just wanted to play, then she said she’d take a 50/50 split with me, which I graciously refused. We were playing O/8, and she only had enough for the blinds +800 chips, ante in the Razz round was 700. She’d have to win a hand to beat me. We both folded our way to Razz, and she got KO’d on the first hand.
So a great start to the trip, +$1700 and the whole trip is a now a freeroll. It was now close to 1 AM, and Iggy and I went to the Hash House A GoGo for some late night/early morning steak and eggs and fried chicken and waffles.
The fried chicken there is awesome, and the waffles come with the bacon baked right in, can you really go wrong? We went back to Orleans and played 4/8 Omaha/8 for 20 minutes so we could get a drink, I won $50 after getting a bunch of premium hands in a super-loose game.
Can never really sleep that well in Vegas, but we got 5 hours then went for a 35 minute run in the morning. Lunch was the buffet at Makino, Japanese all-you-can-eat-buffet. I’m not a huge fan of the sushi there but I like the cooked dishes and it seems they’ve improved the sushi selection since last summer.
Top photo has some teriyaki steak and black seaweed, bottom is red bean and green tea ice cream.
We played the O/8 survivor event at Venetian on Thursday, I got KO’d fairly early, level 5 I think, but Iggy hung on for a long time before busting. I played 2/5 NLHE for an hour (+$80) against a fairly aggressive table before getting a seat at the 15/30 O/8 game, where I played like crap and lost $300 in 3 hours. Salads from the Grand Lux for dinner and we had an early night.
Friday started with another 35 minute run around the industrial area near the Orleans, followed by the lunch buffet there. Nothing noteworthy, it’s decent if you choose your food carefully. We played the $50+20 ROSE tournament at Orleans starting at noon. I think I was the youngest player in the tournament! I was pretty card dead and busted out during level 5, which worked out okay since I got to play 1/3 NLHE there. People are always asking, “where’s the softest 1/2 NL game in Vegas” and everybody says “they’re all soft”. But I’m convinced the Orleans is softer than most, maybe that just my personal experience but I just seem to win there every time. I won $150 in a few hours, despite losing ~$200 in one hand to the guy who limped or called every single hand, I had Q5s on the button in an unraised pot, flop AQ5, turn 5, river blank. Kinda hard to put him on AA, oh well. I also won a high hand of the hour bonus of $150 when my pocket 4s flopped quads (844JQ board). Five hands later the guy 2 seats to my left also flopped quad 4s, with a J, he ended up with the second high hand and $100. So +$230 total after subtracting the tourney buy-in.
After Iggy busted out we checked in to our room at Treasure Island. This was my first time staying there, we got a high floor room overlooking the Strip. Nice room although the TV was tiny. We walked down to Cosmopolitan to check out Holstein’s. Short wait at 6:45 PM on a Friday was totally worth it. My pictures didn’t come out because it was too dark, but I understand the 2+2 love for this place. We did not try out the adult shakes, not a big fan of mixing my liquor with all that sugar. I had a Squatters Hop Rising Double IPA, yum. We had 2 of the best burgers ever. Iggy had The Gold Standard with a fried egg and I had The Steakhouse Burger. We were pretty disappointed with the soggy sweet potato fries and the meh onion rings, if they had been as good as the burger this place would be amazing. Still an awesome burger, well worth it’s ~$20 price tag.
After dinner we walked over to the Bellagio. I was planning to play the 80-160 Omaha/8 game, but it broke just before I got there. There was immediate seating for 40/80 LHE so I took that. I posted in the BB and the guy UTG puts out a straddle. Folds to the cutoff and he raises, SB calls, and I call with A2, straddle calls. Not a hand I would normally call a 3-bet with, but since it’s straddled I play it differently. Flop comes K44, and SB donks. I call, straddle calls, cutoff folds. Turn is 5, bet/call/fold. The river is the perfect 3, giving me a well-disguised wheel. Bet/raise/call, and I win my first hand with a $1080 pot.
And the rest of the night went something like that. I was catching great starters, and most of them held up. AA went down to 99 on a Q86r flop, 7 turn, 5 river. I 4-bet QQ from the BB in a 4-way pot (UTG limper cold calls 3), flop of AKx and I c/f (the two raisers both had AK). These were the only two whiffed hands. I cold call 3 with KK in the SB, flop is KJT 2-tone. Checked to 3-better, I call and initial raiser calls. Turn 9, I check, raiser now bets, 3-better folds, I call. River is another 9 and I c/r, he calls and mucks, I take another big pot. I limp 88 in the SB with one EP limper, flop is 883. I check/call, the turn is and blank and goes check/check, I lead on a river K and he calls. Flopped quads twice in one day!
A couple of other interesting hands involving a new younger player. He knew everyone at the table so I assume he’s a regular there. His 2nd hand so I don’t have any reads. MP raises, weak player calls, I call with KJ in the cutoff, Villain calls from SB. Flop is KT6r, 1, raiser bets, station calls, I raise, Villain 3-bets! Raiser folds, station calls, I call, looking for some improvement on turn. Turn is another T, Villain bets, station calls, I decide to fold since I have no read whatsoever on Villain. River is a blank, Villain bets, station folds. That was the set up for this hand:
Station raises from MP, I 3-bet AK from hijack, Villain 4-bets from button, and Station caps. Flop is K62, 2 spades, checked to button, who bets, Station calls, I raise, Villain calls, Station calls. Turn is a blank, k/b/r!/f/c. River is another blank, k/k. I show my AK, Villain mucks. Not sure what the turn raise was trying to represent after I showed strength on the flop. I guess he got to showdown for the same price as just calling there and calling the river, but he had no fold equity. Maybe he thought I would raise/fold to him twice, NFW to an unknown until I see he only plays the nuts.
Two and half hours of getting hit by the deck after sitting down, I racked up > $2K. A great win for such a short session, nothing that special considering the hands I was getting though. But it felt good in my first-ever orange chip game at the B. Meanwhile, the crazy straddler from my Wednesday game who doesn’t like limit games is playing the 80-160 mix (O8/Stud/Stud8/Badugi, pretty tame) with Eli Elezra. I happen to be chatting with him during a stud hand, he has rolled up 6s in a 4-way pot, Eli catches an A on 4th street, and the fireworks start. My friend is showing 68, and he hits the gas after Eli checkraises, I think Eli put him on a combo draw. Three 6s won a huge pot unimproved, Elezra must’ve had Aces up.
Saturday was time to go home, but we had an evening flight so still had some time to goof around. Checked out the fitness center at TI (included in our $20 resort fees, slightly disappointing for a nicer hotel) then the TI buffet (2 for 1 coupon also for our $20). Buffet was okay, nothing noteworthy. Walked over to the V and played some 2/5 NLHE for a few hours, lost $150 with no interesting hands. Then we walked over to Planet Hollywood, there a popcorn shop there called Garrett’s that a Chicago tradition (Iggy is from there) for some of the Chicago mix (carmel crisp + cheese mix, yum).
So a good trip: one tournament cash, a great cash game session, 3 work outs, and some good food. On Sunday morning, I get a text from the crazy straddler, he crushed the 5/10 PLO game at Aria on Saturday for $31K, wow!
Cliffs
- Boulder->Boston->DC->Vegas
- Tourney cash
- Hash House A GoGo
- Holsteins
- Smashed by the deck at Bellagio 40-80 LHE
It’s been almost a month since my last update, not much to report in that time. Still really busy with work so haven’t been able to play much, just a couple of sessions at Ameristar since then, one a huge loss and the other a solid win. But, I expect to get back to both the home game and the Ameristar now that I’ve beaten down some of the work stuff.
I had some work travel the past couple of weeks, and prior to that I’d decided that I needed some poker R&R, so I convinced my buddy, Iggy, to go to Vegas with me from Wednesday-Saturday. A couple of night at Orleans, one at TI, and then outta town. Part of the timing was Venetian Deep Stacks. I don’t play many tournaments but thought I’d take a shot at a couple of non-NLHE “survivor” events.
No taxi line at McCarran on a Wednesday afternoon, we checked in to Orleans quickly and found that my friend had $15 in slot bonuses to use, complements of his now ex-gf using his card for play there. Cab over to the Venetian with plenty of time to register for the 3 PM HORSE tournament. This is a $300 buy in “survivor” event, with 12% getting paid $2000, so the juice is only 16.7%, I think this is on the low side for a moderate buy in event that plays 8-handed.
I start off by winning the very first hand, but then can’t win anything until the very last hand of Stud/8 when I make a flush on 6th with a draw to a 7-low and cap it 3 ways, but I whiff 7th and split the pot. I’m not doing too well at this point and am in slightly rough shape in level 6 I get dealt (AA)J in stud/8, there’s a raise in front of me by a guy with a 9 up card, and another 9 out there, I 3-bet and get it to heads-up, and he 4-bets. Pretty sure he doesn't have rolled up 9s because of the other 9 showing. I know I’m gonna be all-in on this hand, and he’s got a pair in the hole that beats JJ, I just have to hold on. My hand doesn’t improve by the end but neither does his QQ and I double up into the above average stack zone. Iggy got knocked out around now when his AK flush got beat by a steel wheel in stud.
I got to the final table (9 players, 6 get paid $2K and 1 $1716 because of the 55 entries) in okay shape. There were 2 short stacks, and they both busted out pretty quickly. Now it was just a waiting game. Five of the stacks were comfortably getting $2K, I had one of the two short stacks and was slightly ahead of the other short stack, an older woman who I had played with all day. When we reached the break after level 9 (it’s now midnight, been playing 9 hours), I had a 2:1 chip lead over her, and I offered to give her $100 and call it a night. That seemed about right, she was getting 1/3 of the difference between 6th and 7th. At first she said she just wanted to play, then she said she’d take a 50/50 split with me, which I graciously refused. We were playing O/8, and she only had enough for the blinds +800 chips, ante in the Razz round was 700. She’d have to win a hand to beat me. We both folded our way to Razz, and she got KO’d on the first hand.
So a great start to the trip, +$1700 and the whole trip is a now a freeroll. It was now close to 1 AM, and Iggy and I went to the Hash House A GoGo for some late night/early morning steak and eggs and fried chicken and waffles.
The fried chicken there is awesome, and the waffles come with the bacon baked right in, can you really go wrong? We went back to Orleans and played 4/8 Omaha/8 for 20 minutes so we could get a drink, I won $50 after getting a bunch of premium hands in a super-loose game.
Can never really sleep that well in Vegas, but we got 5 hours then went for a 35 minute run in the morning. Lunch was the buffet at Makino, Japanese all-you-can-eat-buffet. I’m not a huge fan of the sushi there but I like the cooked dishes and it seems they’ve improved the sushi selection since last summer.
Top photo has some teriyaki steak and black seaweed, bottom is red bean and green tea ice cream.
We played the O/8 survivor event at Venetian on Thursday, I got KO’d fairly early, level 5 I think, but Iggy hung on for a long time before busting. I played 2/5 NLHE for an hour (+$80) against a fairly aggressive table before getting a seat at the 15/30 O/8 game, where I played like crap and lost $300 in 3 hours. Salads from the Grand Lux for dinner and we had an early night.
Friday started with another 35 minute run around the industrial area near the Orleans, followed by the lunch buffet there. Nothing noteworthy, it’s decent if you choose your food carefully. We played the $50+20 ROSE tournament at Orleans starting at noon. I think I was the youngest player in the tournament! I was pretty card dead and busted out during level 5, which worked out okay since I got to play 1/3 NLHE there. People are always asking, “where’s the softest 1/2 NL game in Vegas” and everybody says “they’re all soft”. But I’m convinced the Orleans is softer than most, maybe that just my personal experience but I just seem to win there every time. I won $150 in a few hours, despite losing ~$200 in one hand to the guy who limped or called every single hand, I had Q5s on the button in an unraised pot, flop AQ5, turn 5, river blank. Kinda hard to put him on AA, oh well. I also won a high hand of the hour bonus of $150 when my pocket 4s flopped quads (844JQ board). Five hands later the guy 2 seats to my left also flopped quad 4s, with a J, he ended up with the second high hand and $100. So +$230 total after subtracting the tourney buy-in.
After Iggy busted out we checked in to our room at Treasure Island. This was my first time staying there, we got a high floor room overlooking the Strip. Nice room although the TV was tiny. We walked down to Cosmopolitan to check out Holstein’s. Short wait at 6:45 PM on a Friday was totally worth it. My pictures didn’t come out because it was too dark, but I understand the 2+2 love for this place. We did not try out the adult shakes, not a big fan of mixing my liquor with all that sugar. I had a Squatters Hop Rising Double IPA, yum. We had 2 of the best burgers ever. Iggy had The Gold Standard with a fried egg and I had The Steakhouse Burger. We were pretty disappointed with the soggy sweet potato fries and the meh onion rings, if they had been as good as the burger this place would be amazing. Still an awesome burger, well worth it’s ~$20 price tag.
After dinner we walked over to the Bellagio. I was planning to play the 80-160 Omaha/8 game, but it broke just before I got there. There was immediate seating for 40/80 LHE so I took that. I posted in the BB and the guy UTG puts out a straddle. Folds to the cutoff and he raises, SB calls, and I call with A2, straddle calls. Not a hand I would normally call a 3-bet with, but since it’s straddled I play it differently. Flop comes K44, and SB donks. I call, straddle calls, cutoff folds. Turn is 5, bet/call/fold. The river is the perfect 3, giving me a well-disguised wheel. Bet/raise/call, and I win my first hand with a $1080 pot.
And the rest of the night went something like that. I was catching great starters, and most of them held up. AA went down to 99 on a Q86r flop, 7 turn, 5 river. I 4-bet QQ from the BB in a 4-way pot (UTG limper cold calls 3), flop of AKx and I c/f (the two raisers both had AK). These were the only two whiffed hands. I cold call 3 with KK in the SB, flop is KJT 2-tone. Checked to 3-better, I call and initial raiser calls. Turn 9, I check, raiser now bets, 3-better folds, I call. River is another 9 and I c/r, he calls and mucks, I take another big pot. I limp 88 in the SB with one EP limper, flop is 883. I check/call, the turn is and blank and goes check/check, I lead on a river K and he calls. Flopped quads twice in one day!
A couple of other interesting hands involving a new younger player. He knew everyone at the table so I assume he’s a regular there. His 2nd hand so I don’t have any reads. MP raises, weak player calls, I call with KJ in the cutoff, Villain calls from SB. Flop is KT6r, 1, raiser bets, station calls, I raise, Villain 3-bets! Raiser folds, station calls, I call, looking for some improvement on turn. Turn is another T, Villain bets, station calls, I decide to fold since I have no read whatsoever on Villain. River is a blank, Villain bets, station folds. That was the set up for this hand:
Station raises from MP, I 3-bet AK from hijack, Villain 4-bets from button, and Station caps. Flop is K62, 2 spades, checked to button, who bets, Station calls, I raise, Villain calls, Station calls. Turn is a blank, k/b/r!/f/c. River is another blank, k/k. I show my AK, Villain mucks. Not sure what the turn raise was trying to represent after I showed strength on the flop. I guess he got to showdown for the same price as just calling there and calling the river, but he had no fold equity. Maybe he thought I would raise/fold to him twice, NFW to an unknown until I see he only plays the nuts.
Two and half hours of getting hit by the deck after sitting down, I racked up > $2K. A great win for such a short session, nothing that special considering the hands I was getting though. But it felt good in my first-ever orange chip game at the B. Meanwhile, the crazy straddler from my Wednesday game who doesn’t like limit games is playing the 80-160 mix (O8/Stud/Stud8/Badugi, pretty tame) with Eli Elezra. I happen to be chatting with him during a stud hand, he has rolled up 6s in a 4-way pot, Eli catches an A on 4th street, and the fireworks start. My friend is showing 68, and he hits the gas after Eli checkraises, I think Eli put him on a combo draw. Three 6s won a huge pot unimproved, Elezra must’ve had Aces up.
Saturday was time to go home, but we had an evening flight so still had some time to goof around. Checked out the fitness center at TI (included in our $20 resort fees, slightly disappointing for a nicer hotel) then the TI buffet (2 for 1 coupon also for our $20). Buffet was okay, nothing noteworthy. Walked over to the V and played some 2/5 NLHE for a few hours, lost $150 with no interesting hands. Then we walked over to Planet Hollywood, there a popcorn shop there called Garrett’s that a Chicago tradition (Iggy is from there) for some of the Chicago mix (carmel crisp + cheese mix, yum).
So a good trip: one tournament cash, a great cash game session, 3 work outs, and some good food. On Sunday morning, I get a text from the crazy straddler, he crushed the 5/10 PLO game at Aria on Saturday for $31K, wow!
Wow, must be nice to run awesome like always. Planning to play 40/80 at the Bellagio, or at least 20/40 and you can't comprehend that you would ever be stuck more than $1700 in those games after binking the tourney cash?
|huge loss| ~ 4X|solid win|
The freeroll just meant that my airfare, hotel, meals, and tournament buy-ins were now taken care of. I hadn't actually planned on playing the 40/80, was going to play some NLHE tournament on Friday but had a change of heart.
I wonder why you read this blog, you often have a negative comment to add. What's up with that? Are the tales of a MAWG playing medium stakes LHE that compelling to you?
I wonder why you read this blog, you often have a negative comment to add. What's up with that? Are the tales of a MAWG playing medium stakes LHE that compelling to you?
Well I am obv a LHE player as well. Just trying to help you out when possible, but yes you are correct, I am coming off negative more times than not. I will try to be less negative going forward.
I do feel that you have ran very well and are lacking some solid fundamentals for LHE that if/when the large downswing comes, it could shock you to the point that you quit poker altogether.
I do feel that you have ran very well and are lacking some solid fundamentals for LHE that if/when the large downswing comes, it could shock you to the point that you quit poker altogether.
OP - love your blog. Great stuff. Don't know why I missed it before especially as a CO boy. I really enjoyed all discussion on the 1-2 vs 2-5 vs 30-60 play.
I so infrequently make it to blackhawk, but have always wondered what the 30-60 game is like. Thanks for the perspective. My hopes is to get up there more often, but family/kids dictate and the job dominates.
Looking forward to future posts. Thanks for posting.
I so infrequently make it to blackhawk, but have always wondered what the 30-60 game is like. Thanks for the perspective. My hopes is to get up there more often, but family/kids dictate and the job dominates.
Looking forward to future posts. Thanks for posting.
OP - love your blog. Great stuff. Don't know why I missed it before especially as a CO boy. I really enjoyed all discussion on the 1-2 vs 2-5 vs 30-60 play.
I so infrequently make it to blackhawk, but have always wondered what the 30-60 game is like. Thanks for the perspective. My hopes is to get up there more often, but family/kids dictate and the job dominates.
Looking forward to future posts. Thanks for posting.
I so infrequently make it to blackhawk, but have always wondered what the 30-60 game is like. Thanks for the perspective. My hopes is to get up there more often, but family/kids dictate and the job dominates.
Looking forward to future posts. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for reading and posting in my blog, I've certainly read your epic TRs in LVL. I'm surprised you're reading here, poker doesn't seem like a high priority for you, but your trips looks like a blast! I'd die if I drank half as much as you. I also wondered why someone with a Colorado logo never posts in the Colorado poker thread, but if you're never in Black Hawk it makes sense. If you ever do make it up there send me a PM and we'll have IPAs!
Cheers! (I love Dales Pale, but the tall boys are dangerous)
6 packs sell here for over $10. How much is a tall boy? $4?
I'm always up for beer! I'll PM you for my next journey up the hill. And it will be soon. Want to play soon.
Yeah, used to play tons before especially in law school in Washington State. It's hit or miss these days. Just hard with the fam and if I can finally get away...well onto IPAs, greyhounds and yes bud lights.
Love Oskar blues for sure. Just put this fresh baby from Odell's Brewery in the kegarator tonight. Tastes wonderful.
Yeah, used to play tons before especially in law school in Washington State. It's hit or miss these days. Just hard with the fam and if I can finally get away...well onto IPAs, greyhounds and yes bud lights.
Love Oskar blues for sure. Just put this fresh baby from Odell's Brewery in the kegarator tonight. Tastes wonderful.
Oh. One question. As I was pouring my next beer I wondered if A* even serves an IPA. Do they? Do we have to venture out to the Lodge to even find a Ranger?
6 of Dales is typically $9 here, and it's brewed and canned less than 20 miles away. We also get 12 packs in a box for about $15-16. The tall boys can be purchased as 6 packs (!) for $17 or around $3.50 as singles. The original Oskar Blues is around 20 miles from Boulder in Lyons, on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park, decent food and good draft selection. There's also a huge brew pub and tasting room in Longmont, only 20 minutes away, good for trying different styles, but I rarely go unless I can get someone else to drive, high alcohol content and low body weight are not compatible with a safe drive home.
No I usually go Fat Tire or 1554 at Ameristar. The Gates has the best selection, or at least they used to (I've not played there in more than a year), several Oskar Blues, including Dales, on draft.
I like your keg choice, too! 90 Shilling was my go-to beer for a long time, but I rarely buy anything from the liquor store that's not in a can now, seems weird as I used to only buy bottles until Dales showed up and started the canned beer revolution, now lots of good beer in cans. You like Modus Hoperandi? Lots of good hops in that.
I like your keg choice, too! 90 Shilling was my go-to beer for a long time, but I rarely buy anything from the liquor store that's not in a can now, seems weird as I used to only buy bottles until Dales showed up and started the canned beer revolution, now lots of good beer in cans. You like Modus Hoperandi? Lots of good hops in that.
Another weekend another poker bender
On Good Friday I arrived in Black Hawk and the Ameristar around 7 PM, and it was dead. I look up at the board to see where I am on the Omaha list, and there is no Omaha list, the game has already broken. WTF?! There are only two tables of 30/60 LHE running, usually 4 by now. They started a third must-move and I had a seat, but after 30 minutes we were playing 5-handed and a couple of people didn’t want to play short. Not a big deal, this table was terrible anyway-several strong regs, none of the usual Friday night fish. I played 2/5-100 hold ‘em for 4 hours, even passed up a seat at the 30/60 main game since it looked terrible. 2/5 did not go well, despite the fact that the game was fairly soft. Five limpers, I raise AJo to 30 on the button, still get 3 callers. Pot 120, flop is J64 2-tone, checked to me and I bet $65 with TPTK. One caller, and he leads $100 on a turn card 5. Did he really call a half pot bet on the flop with a gutshot? If so, he’s getting paid. Q on the river and he bets another $100 that I call. Rolls over Q2s (2 to his suit on the flop). Sigh. Ran QQ into KK for another big loss and was down around $1K before I decided to take a 30/60 seat. Game was terrible early but got better late. I ended up playing 4 handed with 2 of the biggest donators in the game and got unstuck fairly quickly, biggest hand was when I had KK (UTG/cutoff), SB (fish 1) 3 bets, BB (fish deux) calls, and I 4-bet. Pot $360, we see a flop of 844 2-tone, one of my Kings is the right suit. SB bets, BB calls, I call, anticipating a raise on any non-A turn. Turn is a 6 that puts 3 to a flush out, SB bets, BB calls, I raise, they both call, pot $810. River is a K, k/k/b/c/f. SB rolls over his QQ and BB open mucks his A-high flush draw. Good timing for me. We soon consolidated down to one game, and my luck went back to bad as my AA in the SB got beat by a flopped set of Ks. I ended up down $25 at 30/60 before I finally went home.
Saturday night seemed as though things were mostly back to normal in terms of poker room traffic, a bit on the slow side but not too terrible. I played 2/5-100 HE for half an hour (-$60) before my seat at the 30/60 game opened up. When I first sat down I thought the table was gonna suck, the best player in my Wednesday home game was there, another reasonably strong regular, and a 2+2 lurker who I chat with a bunch, he’s pretty strong as well. But the lurker busted out not long after I got there and was replaced by a weak semi-regular directly to my right. And a couple of the unknowns at the table turned out to be atrocious, just total stations. A buddy of mine at the main game texts me to tell me how amazing my table is, and I have to agree it was unusually weak. My favorite player came after I’d been there for a couple of hours, he’s 2 to my right. On consecutive orbits, it’s folded to him on the button, and he calls! Don’t even think 4/8 players do that. Needless to say, the semi-reg in the SB raised both times, and I 3-bet both times (AK and A9, took down the first one on a blank flop, the second one the button called an A-high flop on all 3 streets). I really didn’t get many playable hands but won $650 in 4 hours before I got called to the main game.
I drew the tougher main table, put my racks down and contemplated going home. But then I saw that there was an open seat at the 2/5-100 Omaha/8 game, most of the tough regs at that game were gone, and one of the stations from my 30/60 game was putting his chips down there. That was enough for me. The game was great, several players, including the 30/60 station, were playing almost every hand. They’d limp for $5, I’d raise to $25 from late position with something like A24x with a suited A, and 6 people would see the flop! And an A would still manage to come, wtf? I was down $150 after the first hour when all of my hands whiffed but then I caught fire. Just kept catching good flops, and turns, against the guys who couldn’t fold. Not my hand here, but 7 way action on a flop of 966, short stack pushes all in for $40, next guy raises to $140, and a decent reg cold calls $140. Alarm bells are going off in my head. Turn is an 8, raiser bets $100 and decent reg raises to $200. Uh-oh. Maybe it’s the cool detachment of just watching this trainwreck in progress, without the adrenaline that come from having 96xx on that board, but I know that the reg has 99xx, the short stack clearly had a 6 and the raise to $140 guy clearly has the last one. Second guy called the turn raise and check/called the river $100, and was shown the 99. This game just crushes some people. I KO’d the station from the 30/60 game, he probably lost $2000 in the 2 hours he lasted at the Omaha game. I finally left after 3 hours, including playing the last 30 minutes 4-handed, up $1300. I kinda forgot how great that game can be when you hit a few hands.
Finally, the Wednesday home game was back on, 5/10 PLO/PLO8. There were a couple of new players this week since a few of the regulars are traveling. The new guys were both pretty bad, one of them was stuck $5K (this guy didn’t seem that bad, he got kinda unlucky in a couple of big pots) and the other $8K (he seemed willing to call off light, and misread his hand twice, oops) when I left just after midnight. I won a couple of big pots, kinda lucky both times. The first one I had A789 on the button, game is O/8, I had a $20 straddle out (almost everyone does), and it’s not raised in front of me, I check and 3 of us see a flop of AQ8. The crazy straddle guy leads out for $50, we both call. Turn is an A, checked to me and I bet pot, $215, only crazy straddle calls. River is a 2, he bet pot, $645, which I call. Oops, he misread his hand and his low is counterfeit, I scoop. That’s one way to beat ‘em! The next hand I have (A3)49 with A, a few of us see a flop of T84, and crazy guy bets, one of the weaker players calls, and I call. Turn is another 8, I obviously don’t love this card, weak player bets $200 (half pot or so), and I call again. We’re heads-up to another 8 on the river, he checks to me, and I check back thinking I can’t win with just A9, but he has A346, MHIG. Did not see that coming. Five hours after I sat down, I racked up +$1K.
Hoping to get to the Lodge on Monday for the WSOP circuit event, it’s limit Omaha/8. But work is threatening to get in the way…
On Good Friday I arrived in Black Hawk and the Ameristar around 7 PM, and it was dead. I look up at the board to see where I am on the Omaha list, and there is no Omaha list, the game has already broken. WTF?! There are only two tables of 30/60 LHE running, usually 4 by now. They started a third must-move and I had a seat, but after 30 minutes we were playing 5-handed and a couple of people didn’t want to play short. Not a big deal, this table was terrible anyway-several strong regs, none of the usual Friday night fish. I played 2/5-100 hold ‘em for 4 hours, even passed up a seat at the 30/60 main game since it looked terrible. 2/5 did not go well, despite the fact that the game was fairly soft. Five limpers, I raise AJo to 30 on the button, still get 3 callers. Pot 120, flop is J64 2-tone, checked to me and I bet $65 with TPTK. One caller, and he leads $100 on a turn card 5. Did he really call a half pot bet on the flop with a gutshot? If so, he’s getting paid. Q on the river and he bets another $100 that I call. Rolls over Q2s (2 to his suit on the flop). Sigh. Ran QQ into KK for another big loss and was down around $1K before I decided to take a 30/60 seat. Game was terrible early but got better late. I ended up playing 4 handed with 2 of the biggest donators in the game and got unstuck fairly quickly, biggest hand was when I had KK (UTG/cutoff), SB (fish 1) 3 bets, BB (fish deux) calls, and I 4-bet. Pot $360, we see a flop of 844 2-tone, one of my Kings is the right suit. SB bets, BB calls, I call, anticipating a raise on any non-A turn. Turn is a 6 that puts 3 to a flush out, SB bets, BB calls, I raise, they both call, pot $810. River is a K, k/k/b/c/f. SB rolls over his QQ and BB open mucks his A-high flush draw. Good timing for me. We soon consolidated down to one game, and my luck went back to bad as my AA in the SB got beat by a flopped set of Ks. I ended up down $25 at 30/60 before I finally went home.
Saturday night seemed as though things were mostly back to normal in terms of poker room traffic, a bit on the slow side but not too terrible. I played 2/5-100 HE for half an hour (-$60) before my seat at the 30/60 game opened up. When I first sat down I thought the table was gonna suck, the best player in my Wednesday home game was there, another reasonably strong regular, and a 2+2 lurker who I chat with a bunch, he’s pretty strong as well. But the lurker busted out not long after I got there and was replaced by a weak semi-regular directly to my right. And a couple of the unknowns at the table turned out to be atrocious, just total stations. A buddy of mine at the main game texts me to tell me how amazing my table is, and I have to agree it was unusually weak. My favorite player came after I’d been there for a couple of hours, he’s 2 to my right. On consecutive orbits, it’s folded to him on the button, and he calls! Don’t even think 4/8 players do that. Needless to say, the semi-reg in the SB raised both times, and I 3-bet both times (AK and A9, took down the first one on a blank flop, the second one the button called an A-high flop on all 3 streets). I really didn’t get many playable hands but won $650 in 4 hours before I got called to the main game.
I drew the tougher main table, put my racks down and contemplated going home. But then I saw that there was an open seat at the 2/5-100 Omaha/8 game, most of the tough regs at that game were gone, and one of the stations from my 30/60 game was putting his chips down there. That was enough for me. The game was great, several players, including the 30/60 station, were playing almost every hand. They’d limp for $5, I’d raise to $25 from late position with something like A24x with a suited A, and 6 people would see the flop! And an A would still manage to come, wtf? I was down $150 after the first hour when all of my hands whiffed but then I caught fire. Just kept catching good flops, and turns, against the guys who couldn’t fold. Not my hand here, but 7 way action on a flop of 966, short stack pushes all in for $40, next guy raises to $140, and a decent reg cold calls $140. Alarm bells are going off in my head. Turn is an 8, raiser bets $100 and decent reg raises to $200. Uh-oh. Maybe it’s the cool detachment of just watching this trainwreck in progress, without the adrenaline that come from having 96xx on that board, but I know that the reg has 99xx, the short stack clearly had a 6 and the raise to $140 guy clearly has the last one. Second guy called the turn raise and check/called the river $100, and was shown the 99. This game just crushes some people. I KO’d the station from the 30/60 game, he probably lost $2000 in the 2 hours he lasted at the Omaha game. I finally left after 3 hours, including playing the last 30 minutes 4-handed, up $1300. I kinda forgot how great that game can be when you hit a few hands.
Finally, the Wednesday home game was back on, 5/10 PLO/PLO8. There were a couple of new players this week since a few of the regulars are traveling. The new guys were both pretty bad, one of them was stuck $5K (this guy didn’t seem that bad, he got kinda unlucky in a couple of big pots) and the other $8K (he seemed willing to call off light, and misread his hand twice, oops) when I left just after midnight. I won a couple of big pots, kinda lucky both times. The first one I had A789 on the button, game is O/8, I had a $20 straddle out (almost everyone does), and it’s not raised in front of me, I check and 3 of us see a flop of AQ8. The crazy straddle guy leads out for $50, we both call. Turn is an A, checked to me and I bet pot, $215, only crazy straddle calls. River is a 2, he bet pot, $645, which I call. Oops, he misread his hand and his low is counterfeit, I scoop. That’s one way to beat ‘em! The next hand I have (A3)49 with A, a few of us see a flop of T84, and crazy guy bets, one of the weaker players calls, and I call. Turn is another 8, I obviously don’t love this card, weak player bets $200 (half pot or so), and I call again. We’re heads-up to another 8 on the river, he checks to me, and I check back thinking I can’t win with just A9, but he has A346, MHIG. Did not see that coming. Five hours after I sat down, I racked up +$1K.
Hoping to get to the Lodge on Monday for the WSOP circuit event, it’s limit Omaha/8. But work is threatening to get in the way…
More beer talk less poker. I wish I could get up there more, but it's nice to live vicariously through you. Good luck.
6 of Dales is typically $9 here, and it's brewed and canned less than 20 miles away. We also get 12 packs in a box for about $15-16. The tall boys can be purchased as 6 packs (!) for $17 or around $3.50 as singles. The original Oskar Blues is around 20 miles from Boulder in Lyons, on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park, decent food and good draft selection. There's also a huge brew pub and tasting room in Longmont, only 20 minutes away, good for trying different styles, but I rarely go unless I can get someone else to drive, high alcohol content and low body weight are not compatible with a safe drive home.
More beer talk: well, there's a beer thread in OOT with > 1700 posts, a little too daunting to read. I'm a fan of almost anything with a lot of hops: Dales, Avery IPA, and Sierra Nevada Torpedo are probably the 3 beers that I drink most often. I like the Racer 5 from Bear Republic quite a bit as well, my local had it on draft for a while but recently got rid of it. If I could only drink one beer for the rest of my life, it would probably be the Avery IPA. Their brewpub is about 10 minutes from my house and has a patio for outdoor summer enjoyment. Decent nachos, too.
DD= Designated Driver or Deviant Dales? Either way, makes for a good trip The Deviant is great, it used to only be available on draft at the brewpub but I've been able to buy it in 4-packs of 16 oz cans for a year or so. Dive brewery, was that in south Boulder? Sounds like the Southern Sun, they brew a huge variety of beers that are only available at the pub, it's walking distance from my house. There are a lot of different brew pubs around town and it seems as though a new one pops up every month.
No, we went nowhere south of Boulder. We went to one after the game in downtown Boulder, and the other place was somewhere between Estes Park and the Oskar Blues restaurant we went to, which is north if I remember correctly.
Another uneventful 30/60 session
I didn’t make it up the hill on Friday night but got to the Ameristar around 4 PM on Saturday and was immediately seated at the 4th 30/60 game, 2nd must-move. Table was meh, one solid reg, we played short-handed for a while because a few people were going to the play the 5 PM WSOP circuit event at The Lodge. I was pretty card-dead, couldn’t even defend my blinds most of the time. My only big hand involved chopping a pot when my JJ was up against the other JJ, only reason this hand is noted here is because it was against one of the assistant coaches for the Nuggets, this guy is a semi-regular, maybe we’ll see him more often since they didn’t make the playoffs. Solid poker player, too.
The main must-move was a good table, plenty of open limping, and it became great when one of the uberfish regs got moved directly to my right. I was stuck several hundred dollars until I pick up KQ on the uberfish’s kill, he had the misfortune of hitting his gutshot on the river when I made the nut flush, and I was no longer stuck. I was up a bit when I got moved to the main game, and it was another table with only a few solid players and several fish. Here are a couple of notable big hands I played:
1) Kill pot, 50/100 this hand, killer is in the cutoff. UTG (cute Asian gal, weak poker player) limps, Hero raises AA from UTG+1, SB (passive tight, pretty new to 30/60, usually plays 2/5) calls, BB (older Asian woman, calling station) calls, UTG calls and is all in for 88, pot is $438. Flop is 663 2-tone. Two checks to me, I bet, they both call, pot $588. Turn is another 6, no more worries about straights or flushes, k/k/b/c/c, pot $888. River is an offsuit 5, SB checks, now BB bets. Obviously not folding, but should I be raising? Reasons to call: a-she could have the case 6, and probably would have played it this way, and b-SB may call as well. I call, SB folds, and BB shows me her A5o. Hindsight says lost value, I have little doubt she would have called.
2) Agro kid raises UTG+1, he’s been at my other two tables and seems like a spazzy agro, often 3-betting in position, betting the flop and getting called, then checking both turn and river and losing at showdown against A high. I 3-bet 99 from the hijack, we’re heads up to a flop of T87, he c/r and I just call. Turn is 6, he b/3b, and I call again, thinking we probably have a chop but J9 is well within his range, and there’s plenty of redraws I have to fade. River is 8, he bets and I call, he mucks his hand. Guess he missed his draw.
After that I missed a couple of draws, lost with AK to K6, and AQ to A5, and called it a night just after the Avs won game 5 in OT after pulling the goalie to tie it up with under 2 minutes to play. 6.5 hrs of poker, +$590. Oh, and I had a couple of 1554s, too
I didn’t make it up the hill on Friday night but got to the Ameristar around 4 PM on Saturday and was immediately seated at the 4th 30/60 game, 2nd must-move. Table was meh, one solid reg, we played short-handed for a while because a few people were going to the play the 5 PM WSOP circuit event at The Lodge. I was pretty card-dead, couldn’t even defend my blinds most of the time. My only big hand involved chopping a pot when my JJ was up against the other JJ, only reason this hand is noted here is because it was against one of the assistant coaches for the Nuggets, this guy is a semi-regular, maybe we’ll see him more often since they didn’t make the playoffs. Solid poker player, too.
The main must-move was a good table, plenty of open limping, and it became great when one of the uberfish regs got moved directly to my right. I was stuck several hundred dollars until I pick up KQ on the uberfish’s kill, he had the misfortune of hitting his gutshot on the river when I made the nut flush, and I was no longer stuck. I was up a bit when I got moved to the main game, and it was another table with only a few solid players and several fish. Here are a couple of notable big hands I played:
1) Kill pot, 50/100 this hand, killer is in the cutoff. UTG (cute Asian gal, weak poker player) limps, Hero raises AA from UTG+1, SB (passive tight, pretty new to 30/60, usually plays 2/5) calls, BB (older Asian woman, calling station) calls, UTG calls and is all in for 88, pot is $438. Flop is 663 2-tone. Two checks to me, I bet, they both call, pot $588. Turn is another 6, no more worries about straights or flushes, k/k/b/c/c, pot $888. River is an offsuit 5, SB checks, now BB bets. Obviously not folding, but should I be raising? Reasons to call: a-she could have the case 6, and probably would have played it this way, and b-SB may call as well. I call, SB folds, and BB shows me her A5o. Hindsight says lost value, I have little doubt she would have called.
2) Agro kid raises UTG+1, he’s been at my other two tables and seems like a spazzy agro, often 3-betting in position, betting the flop and getting called, then checking both turn and river and losing at showdown against A high. I 3-bet 99 from the hijack, we’re heads up to a flop of T87, he c/r and I just call. Turn is 6, he b/3b, and I call again, thinking we probably have a chop but J9 is well within his range, and there’s plenty of redraws I have to fade. River is 8, he bets and I call, he mucks his hand. Guess he missed his draw.
After that I missed a couple of draws, lost with AK to K6, and AQ to A5, and called it a night just after the Avs won game 5 in OT after pulling the goalie to tie it up with under 2 minutes to play. 6.5 hrs of poker, +$590. Oh, and I had a couple of 1554s, too
6 of Dales is typically $9 here, and it's brewed and canned less than 20 miles away. We also get 12 packs in a box for about $15-16. The tall boys can be purchased as 6 packs (!) for $17 or around $3.50 as singles. The original Oskar Blues is around 20 miles from Boulder in Lyons, on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park, decent food and good draft selection. There's also a huge brew pub and tasting room in Longmont, only 20 minutes away, good for trying different styles, but I rarely go unless I can get someone else to drive, high alcohol content and low body weight are not compatible with a safe drive home.
No I usually go Fat Tire or 1554 at Ameristar. The Gates has the best selection, or at least they used to (I've not played there in more than a year), several Oskar Blues, including Dales, on draft.
I like your keg choice, too! 90 Shilling was my go-to beer for a long time, but I rarely buy anything from the liquor store that's not in a can now, seems weird as I used to only buy bottles until Dales showed up and started the canned beer revolution, now lots of good beer in cans. You like Modus Hoperandi? Lots of good hops in that.
No I usually go Fat Tire or 1554 at Ameristar. The Gates has the best selection, or at least they used to (I've not played there in more than a year), several Oskar Blues, including Dales, on draft.
I like your keg choice, too! 90 Shilling was my go-to beer for a long time, but I rarely buy anything from the liquor store that's not in a can now, seems weird as I used to only buy bottles until Dales showed up and started the canned beer revolution, now lots of good beer in cans. You like Modus Hoperandi? Lots of good hops in that.
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