Hmm. That's a tough weekend for me but I'll see what I can do. Honestly don't know about the Stud game. It could be worse than last year but I haven't played it. Sent a PM about the mix, which has been white hot the last 2-3 weeks but could burn out by the time you're out here. Who knows.

Sweet score q! Might need to change your name to Mr. Boat.

Sounds like traffic (players, not driving) was decent last weekend? Always a little skeptical to eat a ~2 hour drive in bad weather up from Aurora for there to only be a handful of "meh" games running.

Another MGM NH Day

Here’s something you don’t get from me very often: not only an update but a NLHE update! I was in DC for the weekend and took mom to National Harbor for a little slots action while I try to offset her losses at the 60/120 LHE game. Unfortunately, we got there a bit late and the game was full by the time I got there. I figured this was a good opportunity to finally play some 5/10 NL. I’ve played plenty of 2/5 NL and am a winning player in that game but I so rarely get to play it that I tend to make mistakes (as we’ll see here I still make those). But I wanted to take a shot at it so that I can feel confident at those stakes if I’m ever at a place where NL is my only real option.

There’s a couple of open seats at the only 5/10 NL table, I buy in for $1500 ($2500 max), I figure out quickly that I cover the 2 fish in the game. I come in behind and fold my first few hands then look down at QJ in the big blind. Hijack opens to 35 (standard open so far) button calls SB folds and I call. Flop comes T high with 2 hearts, I check, HJ bets 50, button raises to 100, I consider 3betting here but decide I should wait before putting more money in this pot and just call, Hj calls. Turn is an offsuit Q, and it chks through. River is an offsuit K and now I decide to bet?? In hindsight this doesn’t seem well-played, I’m only called when I’m beat and I have a good bluff catcher. But I bet 150 into this pot and they both fold.

An orbit later we’re playing 7 handed, UTG opens to 35, I raise TT on the button to 135 (this appeared to be about the standard 3b amount) and the SB goes all-in for his last 200 (he is the obvious fish in this game), we both call. Flop is AKx, UTG chks and I chk back. Turn is a J, he fires 200 this time and I fold, river is a blank. SB shows his KQo, UTG takes it down with his A4s. Now I’m sure this is gonna be a good game…

Now we’re playing 6 handed, I open AJ to 35, reg on my left 3b to 100 (a little light?), folds to me and I call. Flop is KJT, I ck/c 100, offsuit 7 on turn, I ck/c 200. River is a blank, I really want to get to showdown here but don’t want to have to pay off a big bet here, so I decide to lead into the blank river for 275? He calls quickly and rolls over his KTo :-0

Now I’m stuck about 700, but I keep getting good cards and playing at least passably well. I open A7 HJ, KTo guy 3b to 125 this time, we’re heads up to an A64 flop, I ck, he moves all in. Good bet, I really want to call but think I should wait for a better spot and fold.

Things start to turn around for me when a new reg (nondescript 30ish white guy) joins the table and sits directly to my left. He seems like he’s itching to get his money in the pot, puts out a straddle early on. I open QJ gun+2, N30WG raises to 125, folds to me and I call. Flop is AQ4, not exactly the flop I was looking for, I chk and he bets 75 into 265? Seems a little lite, not sure what I’m supposed to do here but since I’m a LHE player and I have a pair, I do what I usually do, which is call. Turn is 3, my hand is all but over, I ck and he cks back? Hmmm. River is the Q, either a great card for me or terrible because I’m now heading to showdown. I decide to chk and give this reg a chance to take a shot at this. He obliges and bets 350 into 415, I instacall and he rolls over AK, MHIG. My river thinking is that his range is pretty polarized towards AxK or AxKx, his bet size suggested to me that he wanted me to fold a smaller club.

N30WG was pretty tilted by my call there which later worked out for me. We play another hand a few orbits later where there’s a MP limp from a guy who’s limped and cold called frequently, which is the equivalent of blood in the water to this agro LHE guy, and I raise AKo to 50 from the cutoff, N30WG calls from the button, blinds fold, limper calls and we see a flop of K96r, I bet 75, button calls and limper folds. Turn is an 8, nothing to really scare me too much, I decide to chk since I don’t think my guy can resist the show of weakness, good read by me as he fires 300 at this pot, which I smooth call. River is a Q, I really don’t care much for this card, KQ got there, JT got there, and I think my guy will fire again, but I’m wrong this time, he just rolls over his 33 and I win again.

One more hand against N30WG: the limper from the previous hand now opens to 20 from the HJ, I 3b red JJ to 105 from the SB, and N30WG makes it 325 from BB, opener folds, I’m trying to decide between shoving and calling, and I call because, well, I’m a LHE player. Flop comes J94, now I’m really hoping he has AA/KK/QQ but he chks back, really looks like AK here. Turn is an 8, I chk and he bets 250 into 670, I craise to 500? Damn, my bet sizing is so terrible, this should be more like a 1000, he tank-calls. River is an 8, I bet 500, he really tanks hard now but finally finds a fold, pretty sure he had TT, enough of an improvement on the turn to justify his bet/call there.

The hand that really convinced me that I kinda know what I’m doing here was this: I open AJo UTG to 35, gun+2 calls, HJ calls, and button raises to 135. Button is $20 opener from last hand, this guy is not very aggressive for a reg so when he 3b in position my hand doesn’t look that strong anymore, and I fold without thinking very long. Other 2 players call, hands plays out as follows: 9 high flop gets chkd through, K on the turn and chkd to button who bets and gets raised by HJ, river is some scare card and it goes chk/chk, HJ has a set of 9s and button has AK (hero pats self on back).

Overall a positive experience for me, I ran superhot and won > $1000 in 3.5 hrs, more than offsetting mom’s slot machine losses. I recognize that I ran way better than expected (flopped a couple of sets, turned another, flopped a straight once and top 2 pair another time) so it’s tough to say how I might do in this lineup on a regular basis but I didn’t find anyone too tricky, a bit tougher than a typical 2/5 game but not dramatically so. Definitely made some mistakes, especially poor bet sizing, that cost me some money, but quite happy with my reads on people.

I’m on the plane coming back from DC now, so I’ll update you on a few hands I played a few weeks ago at the usual 30/60 game from Astar. Lineup is superjuicy, 4 limps and I raise TT from the SB, BB calls and all call, we see a T84 flop, I bet BB calls, few folds and button raises, I 3b to force draws to pay off, BB calls and button calls. Turn seals the deal, 4, I bet BB folds (?) and button calls, he calls a blank on the river as well. BB is an excellent player, he told me he folded a flush draw there, don’t know how he does that in a big pot, I play all of my over pairs the same way, I have way more of those than I have TT, results oriented good play?

Later on the HJ opens, cutoff calls, and I 3b JT from the button. SB cold calls 3, I’m not super happy about this, BB folds others call. And I’m bailed out by the 987 flop, chkd to me and I of course bet, SB cr which folds out the others and I just smooth call. Turn is a blank, he bets I raise he calls, same on the river, he shows me his KK…

Later I open TT gun+1, gun+2 (doesn’t play many hands, never seen him before) cold calls, gun+3 (agro wacky Asian gal) 3b, button calls 3 as does SB, BB folds and I cap, 5 to the flop ($630) of Qx73, I bet all call ($780), turn is 6, I bet gun+2 raises (?!), it folds to me and I’m not giving up that easily, I call ($1020). River is another Q, he chks back and I know his 2 pair are cfeit, big pot to me.

Not all sunshine however: 2 limps, I raise AK from HJ, our wacky agro Asian gal decides to cold call this one, blinds call and 6 of us see a 442 flop, this gets chkd through. Turn is Ah, chkd to me and I bet, now WAAG raises, hmmm, I doubt she has 22 since a 2 was exposed preflop, guess I’m showdown bound here. River is a blank and I k/c, she rolls over her 84o, and I burst out laughing.

Overall a good night for me, continued overall run good there, 9 winning sessions in my last 11.

Foxwoods this Thursday/Friday/Saturday morning, a little 75/150 stud (still a big game in my world, although last year I played it and ran good enough that I am no longer intimidated by the increase in stakes) and perhaps some 150/300 mixed if my balls are feeling swollen. Seems like its been running there a fair bit, although 300/600 mixed ran this past weekend, I shrivel up for a game that big. Hope to have a positive report for you next weekend/early next week!

It’s a Merry Furlough Xmas (Furlough Redux)

Those of you that have read this blog from the beginning may recall that I started it when the federal government had it’s first big shutdown in recent memory in the fall of 2013. Now, a little more than 5 years and almost 2000 hours of 30/60 LHE later, here we are, with no realistic chance of avoiding a shutdown, perhaps until after New Years (Note: I've started writing this just before Xmas, just slow on posting). I’ve obviously lost my commitment to this blog but I thought I’d give followers an update since I have some time on my hands now.

I see my last update was in April, before I went to Foxwoods (lost a little bit playing 150/300 mix in a very soft lineup and a bunch playing 75 stud) and WSOP (split my time between 100/200 mix at Bellagio where I had my first ever $10K day (in the black) and taking horrific beats in NLHE donkaments). I’ll try to find some of my texts to friends about these later. Post-WSOP I had good run at the 30 game at Astar, winning 11 of 14 sessions, but I had a couple of terrible 50/100 sessions that damped my enthusiasm so I decided in mid-September to stay away from the poker room until November, do some hiking and biking now that the weather had cooled off a bit. I actually wasn’t sure I was going to return in November but I did and it feels pretty good. Actually, it feels great because I had 10 consecutive winning sessions at 30/60, including multiple 50 big bet wins. This crazy heater saw me winning almost 4 BBs/hr over this time frame, it’s not surprising that I was looking forward to the next session with a run like this. It finally came crashing back to earth yesterday (Sunday December 24th), all the big hands were cracked and all of the draws bricked (unless my opponents had them). All good heaters must come to an end…

Here’s some of the more interesting hands over the past several weeks.

1-Last night (Sunday) saw this crazy hand: one limp, straightforward reg raises, fish calls, hero 3b button with AK, BB calls, all call, pot 465. Flop is basically gin, AQ7, chks to me and I bet, BB folds, limper calls reg raises fish calls hero 3b limper folds, reg now 4b fish calls and hero calls, figuring he needs a K or a spade now, pot 855. I’m certain that reg has AQ, fish could have a pair, 2 pair, a set, a flush, or a flush draw. Turn is 7, bet/raise(?!)/call;call, pot 1215. Now I’m pretty sure I need the flush to hit. River is 10, k/b/f;c. That’s right, I folded getting 21:1-the fur coat dilemma! Pretty sure I’ve never done that before but I’m sure that fish has the flush, which he does, J8. Reg flashed an A when he folded.

2-Very similar to previous hand: mediocre straightforward reg opens, one call, SB folds, I just call AK in BB. Flop is again monotone, K93, reg bets caller folds, hero cr/4b. Reg will never show up with K9 here, likely AK or KxQ. Turn is a blank b/c. River K, b/r/c. 99, ugh.

Actually hadyet another hand go down like that the previous day, flop top/top with nut flush redraw lose to a flopped flush. Can’t ever recall having that happen so frequently for a seeming unusual scenario, monotone flops are reasonably infrequent.

It wasn’t all coolers of course. Here’s a big suckout from Saturday night:
3-Table is crazy loose, guy on my direct right is VPIP about 90%, not sure what constitutes a fold in his playbook after seeing some hands he’ll play for a raise. Villain in this hand is the same reg from hand 2 above. Hero opens JTs UTG, gun+1 calls, reg 3b, blinds both call, hero caps, all call, pot 600. Flop T62r one of my suit, bcrc3; c4(?!)ccc, pot 1200. Turn 8, kkb(??)cr; fccc, pot 1680. I hesitated for quite a bit before betting-villain could definitely have capped with 2 overs, and wtf does VPIP90 have?? Convinced that I need to improve on river to win this monster, and behold the lovely J on the river. VPIP90 chks, I don’t think I can count on villain betting here so I bet, caller folds, and both call. Villain shows me his QQ, VPIP90 tells me he had T6, completely plausible. I'm priced in until the river no matter what, nice to suck out occasionally.

Here’s a “wtf is he thinking” from 2/5-100 spread limit, while waiting for 30/60-I don't know if the altitude and weed makes Colorado poker players bad but something sure does:

4-My first hand at the table so no reads, two limps, I raise AK to 25 from cutoff, button calls blinds fold limpers call. Flop AKTr, I bet 45, button calls limper1 calls limper2 folds. Turn 6 I bet 100 button calls limper1 folds. River 3 I bet 100, button tanks, turns his K9o face up and stares at me, I say "That's a big hand", "I know", tanks some more and calls. 😀 Poker is good!

Games were extra good later in the fall as the bad beat jackpot got bigger and the qualifier starting dropping towards Aces full of Jacks when I played this hand (aces full of queens is qualifier, BBJ is at $460K):

5-My kill after having QQ and KK hold up in consecutive hands, joke to the dealer that the natural progression is AA, look down and I have…KK again! UTG opens, hero 3b gun+1, gun+2 is all in for less, blinds fold and UTG calls. Flop is AK9r, he ck/c, turn is a blank, same action, and he folds the river. As I’m raking in the side pot, all in guy rolls over his AA! We had 2 pulls for the case K, I would’ve won $138K (30% of the BBJ) if it had come in. Same situation was what won it about a week or so later at a 2/5 game, AA vs JJ, AJx on flop, J on turn, they got it all in on the river and celebrated.

Of course, the run good has to be balanced a bit with some run bad:

6-Raise and 2 calls, I raise button QJc blinds fold, 4 of us see a K55 flop, I bet, opener calls raise fold call call. Turn 6 kbc;c,. River K 🙁, I call on the off chance he has a flush (fur coat dilemma again) but he has a K

7-Kill pot I open KQo UTG, killer calls and 2 in position callers. Flop AJ9 I bet all call. Turn Q, 3 chks, fish bets the button, all call. River J chks through. I chop with fish who has Q6dd, there are no diamonds on flop. Hands like this just leave me shaking my head

I obviously had some serious good luck to win 10 straight sessions, this was how one of those great sessions started:

8-Early in the session, 4 bets to me in the BB with AK, flop Tx54, button, who capped preflop, bets, I raise, opener folds, others call (?). Not sure what button is capping/betting that doesn’t involve an overpair, why isn’t he 3betting here?? Turn is an offsuit 3, I chk, preflop 3better bets, button calls, hero calls. River 2 and I donk, 3better folds and button calls. He didn’t look too happy, and things just kept getting worse for him.

9-A couple of orbits later, 5 limpers, button (same guy as last hand) raises, I call K5 in Bb, 7 of us see a Tx73 flop, button bets, only 3 callers. Turn 3, only 2 callers, river K and I donk, only button calls. He’s pretty much lost it at this point, the rest of the session did not go well for him…

There’s very few players that I will table change to bum hunt since the games are usually pretty good, but this next guy is pretty special. Very passive unless he has a huge hand, I got lucky in 2 big pots against him:

10-Our tilted guy from hands 8 and 9 above raises a limper because he's tilted and raising everything, I 3b KJo from the cutoff, button (our Q6s fish from hand 7) cold calls 3 and special dude (SD) caps from SB, his range is exactly AA. 5 of us see a K93 flop, SD bets all call. Turn K and he chks, tilted guy bets, I raise, button folds, both call. River J they both call and I rake in a $1300 pot 😀

Finally, our last hand before I head up to the Astar, SD from hand 10 is our victim again:

11- I open JTs hijack, SD calls button, big blind calls. Flop T83r I bet, SD calls, BB folds. Turn J I bet, he calls. River J he raises and calls my 3b, he has KJ. It’s good to run good…

Okay, that’s enough hands for now, DougL has reminded me I’ve been procrastinating on getting this posted. I’ve played a few more sessions since I wrote this, not all of them good.

One final note: my colleague just came back from Japan and brought me this as a present:



This is good stuff, very smooth, and hard to find in the US (well, I’ve never seen it at my liquor store, it’s probably possible to order it online, but it tastes much better knowing it came from Japan).

Okay, this is really the final note: I know that updates to this blog aren't even sporadic anymore. I do rather enjoy writing them, and I especially like that I've met a lot of good people because of this, both here in Colorado and in various other venues. Work is a lot less busy for me at the moment so I'll try to do better on keeping you all up to date but I've promised that before...

Always enjoy hearing about your sessions.
That looks tasty.

Nice update quantph. Looking forward to hearing about the hand you played with a4 sooted vs that super handsome guy in your last session!

No waiting!

Hero Rivers the Nuts??

Okay, here goes, interesting hand from last night:

One limper who is crazy action, self-described super handsome guy (I mean, this guy is so good-looking all the hottie cocktail waitresses flirt with him, always brushing him with their fake tits and smiling) who is a TAG poker player as well raises, hero calls A4 in SB because BB is a terrible fish and always calls, BB folds ☹. Flop is A75, hero chks, action guy chks, villain bets, hero just calls to bring action guy in but he folds. Turn is a blank, k/k. River is 6, hero bets and expects a fold or at best a call, but instead gets raised. I can’t get my 3bet in fast enough and expect a crying call but instead I’m met with a 4bet! I look at the board and see the 98 straight flush possibility and can’t imagine anything else-if I 5bet he might have to invoke the fur coat dilemma and call with a K-high flush but even that is dubious. I announce “nit call” before just calling this 4bet, and he asks “K-high?” before rolling over QJ.

Too conservative? Maybe MountainsPLZ just runs good, last week he had the biggest session I’ve ever seen in that game, by a wide margin. I guess that happens when you’re in superuser-mode against 8 terrible players as he was when I saw him! Congrats again on that amazing session.

And since that last post was just a wall of text, here’s some chip porn for your enjoyment (from a mid-December session, in for $2K at 30/60) :

Nice hand, in hindsight my 4 bet is bad even if I'm discounting ace high flushes. Your spot is pretty interesting but I'm never checking back turn with 89cc. Unfortunately for you, you were underestimating my fishiness

Quick furlough update: I've been playing some mixed games online, in the past few days I've probably played 10X the number of hands of 2-7 drawmaha as I had previously. My favorite hand was when I was dealt a pat wheel (23457) in the hijack and raised, button 3b, SB folded, BB called and I capped. Flop was J86r giving me a big wrap, they both called one bet and each drew 1. Turn is a 9, giving me the idiot end of the straight but no matter. BB bet out, I raised, button called, BB 3b, hero 4b. River was blank and BB led out again, I raised, and that was the end of the bets. I of course took the 2-7 part, button had the QT straight and BB had T7 straight to get nothing.

My favorite sequence was when I was dealt 4 consecutive pat hands with no card bigger than a T! That was pretty astonishing, and they all held up for at least half.

Next group social event will be at the bowling alley at CU on Wednesday afternoon, the students are still gone so should be just us.

Here's some music to get you in the mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKfMlQ7KWFE

FYP, you just need the ending characters.

Ahh limit 2-7 dramaha, so far the only one of the two I haven't gotten absolutely crushed at (yet).

I see you quant, holding it down in the furlough streets. Appreciate the limit/mix content for sure

Any mixed games in Colorado casinos?

Preparations for today’s Millionaire Maker included:

1-Flying to Germany for work last Saturday,
2-catching a super nasty case of plane disease (we’re talking sinus infection green stuff getting hacked up each and every morning),
3-not sleeping well due to jet lag

Nonetheless, here we are at DIA, feeling kinda meh but psyched to be playing cards for the next 10 days.

Expect occasional updates on tournaments (Milly, Seniors) and some mixed games

Good luck!

100/200/200, one limp, raise to 600, call, I raise to 3200 from SB with KK, folds to caller:

Caller: they say sometimes you have to gamble
Qph: no gamble, no future!

Caller tanks, then folds.

Caller: you had 8s right?
Qph: good read bro!

Despite 14 hours of nearly continuous (dry) coughing, I managed to find a bag in Milly Maker. Day 2 restarts in 20 minutes, I'm around the middle of the pack in chip count. Picked up a lot of big hands, QQ 3 times, AA twice. I folded TT to 3-bets 3 times (raise and reraise before it even got to me, and was right every time, good job me!). I think I played pretty well, especially considering how terrible I felt. Getting big hands (and having them hold) certainly helps ones attitude.

Decided to break out the big guns for today:



Off to win a milly!

Run pure

Thanks!

I managed to min cash this event, couldn’t get any action with my big hands on day 2, shoved 9 BBs from the button with K9s, Bb calls A8o, A55 flop sent me to the payout line.

I did manage to run pure at 40/80 mixed game at Bellagio last night, up $1k in 20 minutes, left an hour later up $1100. Made 3 7s in 2-7 TD and an 8 badugi.

I had hoped to play day1A of Seniors at V today but am instead waiting at the urgent care, this sinus infection just won’t go away on its own. I don’t feel too bad except when I wake up and cough out the nights green goo from my lungs...

Hope you feel better. But I guess when you are able to play in the seniors event, it is harder to shake colds.

He is doing a noble deed by looking out for the weak immune systems of his fellow olds.

Lol! According to the doc this upper respiratory stuff is going around, maybe all the travel and not enough sleep?

In any event, I took my first Cipro pill already, that stuff is the wonder drug for me

Tournament table is lively and very soft, only woman in sight limps one hand then raises to 3x the next, bets pot on J77r flop then shows QQ when all fold

I’m gonna open limp the button today, it’ll be like Tommy Angelo when he folded AA preflop

Quick update from WSOP Seniors, which now features 30 minute breaks because it’s a bunch of old dudes who pee slowly. I’m at 30000 from 20000 starting, no really interesting hands. Table is standard mix of supertight and crazy loose

I made the first pay bump at Venetian Seniors, making me 2 for 2 in tournaments this summer. Wasn’t too sure I’d make it as I only had 75000 starting day 2, 175000 avg, but got a double up with 99 and coasted on

Is a lot of coffee being drunk?

Surprisingly little.

Oh, 3rd day 2 in 3 events but short stacked as always