Update for your Vegas trip?

Got in tonight, here until Saturday. Plan to play a few tournaments starting with Bellagio 5 diamond Seniors tomorrow (Tuesday). Staying Park MGM.

Played some 30/60 stud mix (stud/stud8/O8) at B tonight to get warmed up, ran pretty good but left soon after I played stud8 during a stud hand. Isn’t David Singer one of the top stud players on the world? Why’s he playing 30/60???

Also got to say hi to watbri

Update = awesome. Isn't it like two weeks before the good season there? WTH doing showing up early?
How many bigger games available? Never assume that any name player isn't broke? Was a buddy of his in seat 3, and he's just there killing time until Nobu?

Actually this week seemed like a good time to be there because of Wynn Classic and Bellagio 5 Diamond, I doubt that many tourists in town after Xmas are going to be playing 30/60+ mixed games. There were still a lot of cowboys in town due to the end of NFR as well, I'm sure the games at South Point were amazing...

I suspect it's simply that he likes to play stud games and this is essentailly all that is available. I would think that someone as experienced as him could pick up the rest of the mixed games if he wanted to and play bigger games if he wanted to. Or perhaps he's a bad sports better and these are his stakes. I did play some 50/100 stud8 with him this past summer at the Rio, too. No insight into his bankroll or motivation, just observed him never lose a pot a showdown for 2.5 hours

Started my first full day in Vegas with 30 minutes on the treadmill, good way for me to generate the endorphins I need for a full day of bad beats mixed with card death. After that had a little breakfast at Eataly, including a cannoli-there’s no good Italian bakeries in Boulder so it was nice to have a decent one even if it was a post-breakfast treat:



Probably a good thing as the Bellagio Seniors ($1100 buyin) started at 10 AM with a plan to run until 7 PM with no dinner break. I started off okay, winning a few hands and generally feeling pretty good about the skill level at my table. The woman on my direct left (I believe she is the only female in this sausagefest, which will eventually see 142 entries, including her at least twice) complains a lot about how she has to get off this table but she is super terrible and of course a total card rack. Here’s a hand she played: I don’t recall all of the preflop action but a preflop raiser cbets on a KT4sss board and she calls, and calls another bet on a blank turn. T on the river and she calls again, raiser has AK and she has…Th8h for rivered trips. Her last hand at my table she opens limps the button when it folds to her, and blinds call and check. Flop is QTT, k/k/b; f/c. Turn A and she shoves and gets called. She shows Q4o (lmao) and caller has…JJ (?!). King on the river and she’s gone.

My table was mostly fun especially after she got KO’d. Played with Frank the Tank, Steve Zolotow, and a guy named David Plastik. I didn’t know him but someone else at my table did, he’s a famous rock and rock photographer, all the big bands in the 80s and 90s. Bet that guy has some amazing degen stories.

I couldn’t really get anything going and was right around starting stack at all 3 breaks. I managed to chip up a bit and was up to as much as 44K (20K starting stack) when this hand happned at 1K/2K/2K: folds to me in the cutoff, I raise to 5K with QQ, and only Steve Z calls in the BB. Flop is T55r, he chk/c 5K. Turn is a 7, and I shove ~25K, which he immediately calls. I’m thinking AT but nope, it’s Q5s, ugh. Case 5 comes on the river to add insult to injury. I guess my chips helped propel him to the win in this tourney.
Completely famished when this happened only about 25 minutes before the end of Day 1, I went back to my hotel to look for food and came across Lala Noodles. It was solid if nothing too special-for unknown reasons Boulder has very little good Asian food, so I’m always happy to find something good. It was probably comparable to Noodles at Bellagio, nothing cheap and delicious like on Spring Mounatin but w/e. I had the Singapore style noodle with a side of Chinese broccoli:



I followed dinner with a 2.5 hour session at the 30/60 mixed game at Bellagio. Mix was badacey, Big O ($600 cap), 2-7 TD, stud/8, A-5, drawmaha 2-7, badugi, drawmaha, 2-7 SD ($600 cap), and double board Omaha. Not too many memorable hands, one I drew 2 to a A25 tri in badacey, made a 4 badugi on first draw and a wheel on the 2nd draw that went chk/b/cr/3b/c. He broke and paid off with a 6, unlucky for him. I racked up a small winner for this evening for my 2nd win in as many nights.

Next day (Wednesday) I’m off to the Wynn for the $400 survivor tournament, which includes a $100. $3000 to everyone who makes it through. I get off to a decent start in second level, I open red AA UTG, old guy on my direct left calls, then button 3b. Not sure if he’s got a big hand or is simply trying to make a move, but I shove, old guy calls (?!) and button calls. Old guy has AJ, button has AK, looks good for me. Flop is 542, yuk. Turn is offsuit 3 and river is another 5 and I just about triple up, KO the old guy and take his bounty. I won a couple more bounties too, but was below chip average with 35 remaining, 17 paid, when this happened. Blinds are 2k/4k/4k, gun+2 opens to 9k, hijack calls, SB ships his stack of 76k, and I look down at AA 😊 Naturally I call all in for 45k or so. Opener folds, next guy tanks for a bit and thinks he is priced in but decides it is too much. SB has 88, and there’s an 8 on the flop and my day is done ☹. At least I was close to Tacos el Gordo



I was pretty tired and hungry so I passed on the chance to play the 80/160 mixed game at Wynn, it’s a circus mix and seems to run frequently according to Bravo. This is a little more suitable for my bankroll than the 200/400 mix which runs quite a bit at Bellagio.

A bit more to this trip report but let me get this posted before I go to sleep…

Just came across your blog, subscribed. I'll read more at work (since my other choice is working), but enjoying what I've seen so far.

GL from another (more toward old age) Coloradan.

Tyty, but I wouldn't read it all in one fell swoop, the glory days (such as they were) of this blog are long in the past, and updates are rather sparse

The food looks amazing. Hope you ran hotter than the sun at some point.

Think there is something about the AA vs. AJ vs. AK hand because the way you described it, it is a 3 way chop.

Oops, you're right. There were two clubs and a gutterball to a chop on the flop so it must've been 543. And the turn put four to straight on the board, 543(6). And the river paired the 5 and I won the pot.

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 QJ, blinds call and limper call. Flop is A72, 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 Q7. 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 AQ4, 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 Q2c 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 J9 in BB, all call. Flop is QJ4, 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 T7. 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 KK 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 KK 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 A2. 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).

I think you should bet this flop. I know quads blocks stuff, but you put in the last aggressive action on preflop. You'd bet many other hands here. They can have draws. Your check is suspicious and check flop bet turn is really strong looking. They probably had zip, so didn't matter.
nh
Thanks for the free entertainment, and glad your new decade started well.

So that's where all my AAs are going. Well, at least it's to a good cause, I'd just misplay them somehow.

Nice update! Glad to see the other degens didnt give up poker for their new years resolution either.

Sorry you stopped getting quads and aces constantly

I like reading your updates.

Self-isolation? Let's play online!


I have a little bit more time on my hands these days since work isn’t as busy as usual, teleworking still has a bit of an unreal feeling to it. Sitting in a chair for hours at a time is very trying though, and my shoulder is starting to hurt, feels like the return of an old rotator cuff injury that I developed at the end of grad school (sitting in front of the computer writing my dissertation). I’ve been running a lot more than usual, need my lungs to be as strong as possible in case I get the coronavirus. Such a mixed bag for people, some obviously get quite sick, some barely notice it, no obvious correlation yet.

My last visit to the Ameristar was 5 weeks ago, and even then I was bit nervous about it, but I knew they were about to drop the hammer on social interactions so I decided that it would likely be okay, and if anyone near me coughed I was outta there. They were open the following Saturday but by then I knew it was a good idea to stay home and try to avoid this plague. I really feel sorry for the dealers (and cocktail waitresses and cashiers and massage girls), they’re just stuck for a while, hard to know when this will all end, and who’s gonna have money to spend at the casino at that time.

The Boulder mixed game had it’s last live game a few days after that but has since moved online, the big mix we play when it’s all regulars is 14 games, including one that is new to most of us, dramadugi. Five card single draw, best (4 card) badugi in your hand for half and best Omaha high hand (2 from your hand, 3 from the board) for the other half. We’ve only had this game in the mix the last couple of times we played but I’ve already played a few interesting hands of it:

2nd to last hand of the night, cutoff opens, button calls, SB call, hero call BB with 345XX (I forgot what I threw away). Flop is 789, 2 chks cutoff bets, all call. I make 23459, turn is J, and SB bets outs. He’s a good player and has a straight here 100% of the time, no need to raise here even though I’m almost certain to have best badugi, other 2 come along (cutoff is all in). River is 3 so no flush, SB checks so I bet, button calls. SB has T7 for the straight, 7 high club draw and a 3 card badugi. Cutoff had A49J badugi and A high club draw, button had 9542 badugi with Q high flush draw! A lot of big hands. Guess I could’ve raised turn, both of those hands call 100% of the time.

Very last hand of the night, folds to me in the SB and I raise A45J, and very tough player in BB raises me, I just call. I draw one and get 8, which works out perfectly on the 592 flop, I bet he calls. Turn 8, same action, 5 on river and now I have a full house, talk about running good. Not obvious that I’m getting the whole pot since he 3b preflop and drew 1 but since badugi is Q high and I scoop.

During a previous round of dramadugi I open button-3 (7 handed game) with AA27X, blinds both call. Flop is a monster, 4sAh4d, 2 checks and I bet, SB calls and BB raises, he has a 4 every time. No need to push anybody out of the pot here, I just call and draw one (I wouldn’t typically keep Ad here). I draw great again, 5, giving me A257 badugi. Turn 6h, SB chks, BB bets, I just call, SB obliges and calls. River is the terrible 4c, but I still raise after BB bets since I know SB will call worse, but I only call the 3b from BB. He has A249 badugi and we split the 20 BB pot.
Seems like a fun enough game but I have no idea what a playable hand really looks like, I guess a good 3 card badugi or better? We’ll see how much fun it is when I don’t smash the flop and draw even better.

Archie is a another game that I think is pretty tricky since good opponents can disguise their hands well, and you have to decide if your big 2 pair is good for even half. I played the biggest hand of Archie I’ve ever been involved with earlier in the week. Cutoff opens, button 3b, SB folds, and hero just calls BB with 999xx, cutoff calls. I simply call here because 1) I’m out of position and 2) my draw one is going to make my hand look like a low draw at least some of the time. I draw 1, cutoff draws 2, button draws 1, and I decide to bet out since I don’t want this to check through in case button just has a low draw. Cutoff calls, button raises, I 3b, cutoff calls and button caps. I draw one again and miss, others draw 1 as well. I decide to just chk/call button’s turn bet as does cutoff. I pitch the right card this time and fill up 99988, time to unload the cannon, I donk, now cutoff raises, button calls, and he calls 2 more raises before it’s capped. And my boat scoops 777AA and aces up! 26 big bet pot, yikes.

Another big Archie hand was the last hand of the night a couple of sessions ago. UTG opens and I 3b 33399 (pat full house!), mtnzplz comes along from BB and UTG calls. I believe the draw are 1/2 and they both call my flop bet. Second draw is 0/1, betting is k/kb; c/r (allin)/3b, mtnz tanks but finally calls. UTG draws 1, but his 2 pair are no good, but mtnz held on for the low with a rough 7

Online poker is pretty fun when you’re running hot, and the past couple of sessions have been unreal for me. Too bad the stakes are a bit lower than we usually play

I guess it’ll be all online poker hands from me for a while, hard to imagine the casino is going to reopen any time soon, and I seriously doubt I’ll be going back right when it opens. My big adventure for the weekend is venturing out to pick up a (preordered) grocery pickup on Sunday. First time driving my car in a few weeks…

The Best Beat Ever

Hey 2+2, been a little while. It’s been a helluva 18 months, huh?

I just came to post a quick update about this last weekend since I have a good story, I’ll try to give a few more updates later this week.

I haven’t really played very much live poker since covid, even post-vaccination. I had a few sessions but have kinda lost a lot of my enthusiasm since Colorado introduced unlimited bet size-the 30/60 LHE game is down to one table on Friday and one on Saturday, kinda sad. Prior to covid this game ran at least 1 table and often 2 tables every night, with 3-4 on Friday and 4-5 on Saturday. Now there’s NL, with every decision taking forever…

In any event, I like my cash games limit but I like my tournaments NL, and this past weekend I decided to play the $450 kickoff event for the Colorado Poker Championship at the newly-renamed Ballys (formerly Golden Gates). I have to check something in the lab before I go, and I decide to pick up a flat of Palisade peaches from one of the roadside vendors on my way, and I show up a few minutes past noon. First win of the day is that not only is there no line but there are even open seats-I thought I’d end up an alternate for sure, it's often that way (or at least it was pre-covid). My first bad beat came before I even had my chips out of the rack, when some guy started telling his bad beat story, how some guy blah blah vs AA blah blah. He turned out to be a total fish, paid me off super light a few times, and I got very lucky and my AT beat his AK on an A64QT board. I finally knocked him out when my 88 held against his turned straight draw that bricked the river. I finished Day 1D in top 20 or so, 91 people back for Day 2 (593 entrants, 63 paid). Nothing too eventful for the first part of Day 2, ran my starting stack of ~ 250K up over 400K then back down again. Made the money, then found myself at final 3 tables but only ~250K stack (avg was 660K), woke up with AA in BB and got it all in preflop against QQ and held.

Then the run-good really started: cutoff opens to 2X and folds to my 22 in the big blind, I call. Flop is A62 2-tone, I ck/call half pot bet. Turn is a 4 and he shoves, I call and he has AK and I double up, I’m 3rd in chips with 20 left. Later I flop a set of 4s in small blind and stack another player who bluff-shoved a not-at-all-scary board with a weak hand on the river. I make the final table as one of the 3 chip leaders (stacks were close, I didn’t do a count).

With 8 left I have 3.2M in chips, avg is 2.2M, $49.5K up top, things are looking good. Best player at the table gets busted by the fish in 7th and things continue to look good for me. But then same fish cracks my AA with his 42o in the small blind, and now I’m in trouble. I survive an all in, and as the 75K/150K level is coming to an end, with 100K/200K coming up, I only have 1.3M and am looking for a hand to shove. Sixth place money is a respectable $7K, not bad for 2 days work. But the other stacks are relatively even, ~3.5M each, and they’re starting to talk about a chop, which is great for me.

And then this happens: last hand of the level, cutoff opens to 300K, and big blind 3b to 900K. He’s an older guy and tight, he has a monster here 100% of the time. Cutoff has some gamble in him and calls, later he said it was because of the chop talk-figured he’d be in better position if he has a lot of chips. Flop comes T74 all diamonds, and big blind shoves. Cutoff covers, and he tanks for a couple of minutes then call. Big blind has AA no diamond, cutoff has JTo-also no diamond! WTF?! Turn is a blank, and river is a J, and AA busts out in 6th place.

JTo guy now has 45% of the chips in play but everyone agrees to ICM chop after we all give big stack an extra $1k each. So instead of $7K for 6th I end up the beneficiary of this horrible play, and take home $16K for my biggest tournament cash.

How’s that for the best beat ever?

Nice score! Sad to hear about the 30/60, I only played there a couple of times but I really loved that game.

Congratulations, quantph! Nice story.