Starting 2020 with a 3-day poker bender
Well, not much of a bender really, but I did play Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights since I was off from work. And DrSwaggerWagon was there on Saturday, I’ve not seen him in many months, it was good to catch up with him.
On Thursday I booked a small win to start 2020 on the right foot. Got to Ameristar late in the afternoon and the 3rd 30/60 game started soon afterwards. I got dealt AA in the SB on the very first hand of the year 😊 (and it won). That was the extent of the interesting hands I played for a while, until late in my session. I was stuck > $1000 after making 2nd best hand a few times and paying off. Then this run happens:
1-Button (stupid aggressive older Asian guy who wants to blast off his stack by straddling lots) puts out the Mississippi straddle, SB 3-bets, fishy Asian guy calls, hero 4b red QQ in cutoff, all call. Flop is QQ9, checks through. Turn is K, 2 chks to me and I bet, all fold ☹
2-Fishy Asian guy limps, hero raises Q
J
, blinds call and limper call. Flop is A
7
2
, I let this check through. Turn 3
SB bets fish calls hero calls. River A
they both check to me and I bet, SB folds fish shows me his A and folds.
3-I post the kill button-3 and wake up with red JJ. Same fish from last hand limps, folds to blinds who both call and hero raises. Flop is T98r, I bet and all call. Turn 7, only SB calls, and he pays off on a river K.
4-I post the kill again and have Q
7
. Same fish limps yet again (this was a trend in case you couldn’t tell), button raises, blinds fold, fish and hero both call. Flop is is A
Q
4
, chks to button who bets, both call. Turn 7
😊 I cr and only button calls. River is a blank and she folds, must’ve had a gutterball (or flush draw)
That mini-heater was enough to get me back in black. Of course it wasn’t all smashing flops. 20 minutes after the heater I open red AA gun+1 and only fishy Asian guy calls from SB. Flop is K76r he calls my bet. Turn K
he calls again. River 3
, this time he craises and says “Raise one time”. I’m sure I’m beat but can’t lay this down, I’m puzzled when he announces flush as I didn’t even see the runner runner clubs that made his Q
2c a winner…
No matter, I’m happy to book a win (and of course I want the fish to play his terrible hands OOP, just don’t want him to catch).
Small aside: this update is going to be an unreadable wall of text unless I put a photo in somewhere, so here’s the whisky I brought to my friends’ place on Xmas Eve. They’re great cooks and like to host AND they have a well-stocked wine frig, so I’m tasked with whisky. I bought some new Japanese stuff since that was a hit on Thanksgiving:
I played again on Friday and it was a wild night. Older white guy who has a strong resemblance to Walter White and shows up about once a month, VPIP about 95% and goes to the river virtually every hand, shows up at my 2/5 table, then is right after me on 30/60 and 50/100 list. This guy is kind of amazing, he does not come to the poker table to fold (especially flopped pairs). I lose a bit at 2/5, make it back at 30/60 and finally get a seat at 50/100. It’s good timing as a couple of the strong players are leaving the game, and a superdegenerate older Asian guy (once upon a time this game only ran when he showed up, although that is no longer the case) who is widely believed to be very wealthy is in the game. He’s VPIP ~90%, and doesn’t have a lot of fold in him.
Only interesting hand early on goes like this: tough player open gun+2, Hero 3b 99 2 to his left, and a passive player 4b the button. Flop is T82r, chks to button and he bets, 2 calls. Turn is a J and button bets again, I’m sure I need to improve to win now, and a 7 comes on the river. I bet and he tanks before calling and showing his KK.
Later I go on an AA heater that must be the most in a single session for me. I get them in consecutive hands from gun+2 and gun+1, Walter and another call both times, and both times there is a small card paired on the flop, everyone folds on the turn though. I get them again next orbit gun+1, Walter calls again and BB (tough player) 3b and I 4b. Again there is a paired baby on the flop, tough player bets and I just call as does Walter. BB saves a bet when a K comes on the turn, he chks/c both turn and river, QQ or JJ I’m sure. A couple of orbits later I get them AGAIN! This time wealthy degen has a straddle UTG, and I 3b/5b. The flop is K high all clubs, I do not have A
but he folds to my cbet. Finally, a few orbits later, I get them yet again, this time in the SB. Walter has limped in, I raise BB calls Walter calls and they both fold on Q high flop. So no monster pots but a bunch of small ones. Never had such a run of AA ever before.
Aside from that run, I ran fairly bad, missed every AK and AQ, except for the AQs that connected heads up against wealthy degen on Q46 flop, followed by 87, I ck/c river and lose to 65o. Wealthy degen went on the sickest heater I’ve ever seen starting about then, he turned $1K into > $15K by the time I left. He would routinely show down 2 pair or better on every hand that went to showdown. Here’s one that he got me:
Degen limps UTG, aggressive reg raises the button (he’s raising any playable hand against degen), SB (tough Boulder reg) 3b, he’s also going to play aggressively here, and Hero calls J
9
in BB, all call. Flop is Q
J
4
, SB chks, Hero bets all call. Turn 5x, SB folds this time. River 3x, I should be good most of the time here but I think I’m only ever called if I’m beat so I chk, UTG bets button folds and I call. I have do a lap around the room when he rolls over 53o
All in all a pretty solid win at the end of the night (which was actually bordering on the wee hours of the morning, something I rarely do anymore).
On Saturday I got to the casino around 530 PM, and the 50/100 game was still running with about half of the same players as when I left early that morning. The crazy guy winning every hand wasn’t there but I was told he left about half an hour before I got there, felt in front of him. Inevitable outcome I suppose. I got seated at the 3rd 30/60 game right away. I post in the cutoff and raise A9o and BB (annoying Asian gal) calls. Flop is 8 high with 2 diamonds and she craises, I call. Turn A
I call and call a blank river, she has T
7
. Not a good start, and I spend the next 20 minutes or so folding every hand until I start getting some playable hands and smashing flops, I’m up $1500 after an hour. Most notable hand goes like this:
UTG limps, DrSwaggerWagon (DSW) raises gun+1, gun+2 calls, a bunch more calls and Hero calls 55 in BB. Seven of us see a KJ5r flop, DSW bets and everyone calls. Turn is 4
that puts a flush draw on the board, DSW bets, gun+2 raises, folds to Hero and I 3b, only g+2 calls. River is 5
that gives me quads, he calls and says he also has a full house, guess that 4
wasn’t the magic card he thought it was…
Run good continues for the next hour, I open K
K
from hijack and am heads up against BB. Flop is K high with 2 diamonds, and the board runs out 2 more diamonds and I get paid on each street. And that was about the last hand I won all night…
UTG limps I raise K
K
on button big blind and UTG call. Flop is JT3 all spades, they both call. Turn is a blank and they both raise, ugh, I toss my hand in the muck, UTG has A
2
. Later I cap KK preflop in the BB, I bet a J high flop, opener raises and SB (3-better preflop) 3b, we both call. Turn is a blank, SB bets Hero raises, opener tanks before folding and SB 3b again. I’m clearly not folding but SB is a strong player and I have a bad feeling, which turns out to be right as he shows down AA. Standard running bad cooler.
That was about all for this session, my big early profit evaporated in a series of my missed draws and villains draws getting there, a $500 loss at the end of the night. Kinda sucks after being up so much but these things happen.
Ok, that all for now, thanks for reading. I hope to finish up that Vegas TR this week but I’m going to be distracted by Jeopardy! GOAT the rest of the week (oh, and my day job).