Two Deviants pretty much mean nap time for me, I'd never make it down a mountain!

Saw your LVL thread, I'll be in Vegas for the WSOP starting May 30, so the weekend after MDW. However, my best partying days are well behind me, but if you're around that weekend, there are plenty of places I'd meet you for an IPA or two, but you'd have to find others to continue the party with.

In other beer news, my local had the Stone Go To IPA on draft as a guest beer this week, and I had one (I like their regular IPA quite a bit, and I generally find the beer from Stone to be excellent). It smelled amazingly good, however, I found the grapefruit taste to somewhat dominant, so it was not that great. It kinda reminded me of Pliny the Elder from Russian River, except the Go To has a much lower alcohol content (Stone calls it a session beer).

It was my turn to bring beer for the soccer team for after today's game, and I came up with these two for a mix:.
The Modus never quite managed to make it to the game though, instead finding a comfortable home in my frig. I had a Shift after the game, decent pale ale but nothing to get too excited about. And I'm drinking a Snapshot now as I type this out and watch the Everton-Man City replay, it's also okay but I prefer the Sunshine when I'm drinking wheat beer.

Good selection of beers. I love being spoiled here in CO with great beer!

Yes I'm looking into Vegas options. It does need to be on a weekend due to work. I'll look into when your there. While people may be surprised, I'm graving a relaxing by the pool kill time with lots of poker at night. Years ago used to do tons of weekend trips just for poker. Remember the days of $118 round trip flights on SW? Took full advantage.

I'll be in Vegas from May 30-June 14, so a couple of full weekends in there. It goes without saying that it's an awesome time to play poker (and it's hot enough to enjoy the pools)! Unfortunately, I didn't really take advantage of the good airfares back in the day, I only became a Vegas fan in the past few years.

And, I drank one of the Modus Hoperandi and the remaining Ska ESB while hacking out the next poker update...

Another Update from the Felt

It was an interesting week on the felt for me. Had my best Wednesday home game session ever, followed by my worst 30/60 casino session on Friday. And Saturday was a solid winning session, despite having some tough tables to win at.

The Wednesday game is in a bit of a shambles at the moment. Two of the solid regulars, including the guy that I think is the best player in the game, told me they aren’t going to play anymore because they can’t beat the game, and neither of them was there last Wednesday. Certainly several of the weaker players who were part of the game when it was at the hotel in Denver have stopped coming, but there’s plenty of opportunity although it’s a tough game. Saw the best player at Ameristar this Friday, and he immediately started talking with me about allowing people to run it twice (there is a house rule that running it twice is not permitted), which means he was talking with some people about a hand in which the crazy straddler and the new guy got it all in on the flop for $3K each. Crazy straddler had a wrap, new guy had top set, straight card came on the turn and board didn’t pair. If it were up to me, I’d say that if each player puts $1500 in the pot, they can run it twice. $1500 is a slightly arbitrary number, 150 big blinds, but it’s more than the standard first buy-in ($1000).

First interesting hand was a high only hand, I called the $20 straddle from UTG+1 with 8686, raised to $60 by the crazy straddler (his straddle, he does this ~80% of the time if nobody else raises), 3 seats to my left. 4 of us to a flop of T65, checked to straddler who bets pot, I c/r all in for a total of ~$700 with my middle set + flush draw, he calls. Turn is a Q, river is an 3, and he announces, “Nuts”. He rolls over 743xJx for the straight. 68:32 favorite when the $$$ went in, so at least I got it in good, even if the result was bad.

I reload $2000 and am down to ~$1400 when this hand happens. My $20 button straddle, game is high/low, and crazy straddler puts in a $60 blind raise. Two callers between me and the straddle, I call with T532, pot $255. Flop is A67, check/bet $60/call/call, pot $435. Probably gonna have to fold my nut low unless I improve on the turn, hate getting quartered in this game. Boom! 4, gutshot hits and now a flush draw. Check/bet $200/Raise to $500, fold/call, pot $1435. Boom! 3 on the river, now I have a wheel and a flush. He checks, and I shove my last $800 or so. He tanks, then calls. All I remember is his 237x, counterfeit on the river but he still called, probably figured I just had high.

And just like that I was unstuck. I don’t have any other notes or remember any more big pots, but I ran good and racked up ~ $2.5K to the good. A huge win for me at that game.

Friday night at the 30/60 game at the Ameristar was not so good. The line up was amazing, several weak players at both of my tables, but I couldn’t really get anything going. All of my pairs were middle pairs, all of my draws whiffed, theirs all got there. I ran especially bad in kill pots. Lost almost all of the Wednesday game winnings in 6 ugly hours. Nuff said.

Saturday night was a different story. I had KK four times in 3 hours, including twice in kill pots (I lost with them once when the monotone flop turned a fourth card to a flush). First time I had KK was a weird hand, mainly because it played out against an older (65?) woman, nicely dressed, seemed to know the dealers but I’d never played with her before. She racked up after an hour or so, I asked if she was going to dinner, no, they called her for her other game: 4/8 LHE! Still scratching my head about that, don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone change games to play 4/8 before. Anyway, she open limps from directly to my right, I raise KK from hijack, button calls, SB folds, BB calls. Flop is 875r, and she donks. I raise and knock out the other two callers, she calls. Turn is Q, now two s out there, and she bets out. So confused when old people do that, I just call. 87? Q8? 64? Set? No clue where I’m at but not folding an overpair here. River is J, she bets, I call, and she shows J9, didn’t imagine I’d see that hand from an old woman.

That was probably the most interesting hand in 3 hours at the second must move table. It was a very tough table after she left, several good regs there. A few bad players filtered in, but then I got moved to the main must move, and I’d had enough. I decided to test out the Omaha/8 game. This game was fairly terrible, just super passive, 7 players limping in for $5, LOL. I was raising and betting aggressively when I had good starters but couldn’t get much going and was down a few hundred dollars. Eventually, a new guy showed up, this guy was pretty good action. I’ve played with him before, he’s in town for the WSOP circuit at The Lodge. Nice guy, marginal O/8 player, he donated a decent amount of $$$ to the table. Here are a couple of big pots I played with him:

1) He raises to $10, 4 callers, I call A266 in the SB (side note: I hate my call here, I should just raise to $110 and take this down), BB calls. Flop is T65, 2 checks to him, he bets $45, folds to me, and I make it $145, BB folds he calls. Turn is 8, I bet $100, he makes it $200, and I call, knowing I need the board to pair for me to scoop, and hoping I’m not getting quartered or counterfeit on river. River is a blank, I check/call 100. He has AT9K, and we chop.

2) Guy on right limps as he does with ~75% of his hands (he would raise to $10 when he had AAxx, LOL), I raise KTKJ to $20, action guy is two to my left and makes it $35 to go, folds to me and I call, pot $80. Flop is QJ8, I check, he bets $55, I c/r to $110, and he just calls, pot $300. Turn is 8, not a great card for me, I bet $100, he calls, and I’m pretty sure I’m good. River is 9, completing my straight flush, I bet $100 and he calls, pot $700. I roll over the nuts, and he mucks without showing.

3 hours of 30/60 were good enough for just under a $1K win, plus ~$350 in 4 hours of O/8, and I called it a night. Overall a money-losing weekend, but in the black for the week. Anxious to see what the Wednesday line up is like this week...

Congrats on last Wednesday's win. Hope you are crushing the game tonight.

Thanks! Unfortunately, last night did not go so well, lost my first buy in on the second hand of the night, when we got it all in on the turn, I had top 2, he had flush draw and gutshot, flush draw got there on the river. And it went like that for the remainder of the night, I missed my draws while theirs got there, and I gave back essentially everything I won last week.

At least there's next week...

Yet Another Update from the Felt

Watching Man City wrap up the BPL title while the snow falls, up to 10” expected today! Welcome to spring time in the Rockies…

The Wednesday game was back to the normal crew this week, the two guys who said they wouldn’t come back, did. My run-good only lasted a week. There was an opening discussion about running it twice (now permitted, for any pot size) and maximum buy-in. I gather that some people have gotten uncomfortable with the amount of money now that nobody seems to rebuy for $500 but rather for $2000+. But the vote was for no maximum rebuy.

Last week I hit a bunch of draws but this week was the complete opposite, with all my draws whiffing. As an example, I raise A225 (game is HiLo) to $100 from the cutoff after 2 calls, straddle folds, 3 of us see a flop of KT7x. First guy bets pot $340, middle guy calls, I call with nut flush draw. Turn is an off suit 5, giving me nut–nut draw, it’s checked to me, and if I had a pot-sized bet + behind, I would have bet to put pressure on, but the pot is now bloated, and I check as well since I have very little fold equity. River is an offsuit 9, middle guy bets out, and I have to fold again. Sigh. That was typical of my night, and I lost a few K.

Friday was a much better night. I started off playing 30/60, the game was okay. I didn’t have many playable hands, and after an hour or so I took a small profit to the juicy-looking Omaha/8 table. I have a few good hands there but lose a big one to a huge fish. After 2.5 hours, I decided to sit down at a new 4th 30/60 must-move game, and it’s amazing. Pretty soon we’re playing 6-7 handed, with one of the best players in the game on my right and 4-5 fish and/or calling stations. I win a few pots here before going to the next must-move.

I’m completely card dead for a few dealers, before this happens. Villain in this hand is new to the table and new to this game, he has to ask the dealer every time how much he can bet. Bought in for $300, 3-bet his JTo from the SB with < $60 behind and made Broadway in his only notable hand. I open QsQc from UTG+2, call from the cutoff, villain calls on the button, BB calls. Flop is 64x3, BB bets, I raise, cutoff cold calls 2, and villain 3-bets. BB folds, I call intending to lead most non-spade turns, cutoff calls. Turn is K, I bet, cutoff folds, and villain raises. I call, intending to ck/call most rivers. River is J, it goes ck/ck, and he rolls over K7. Grrr. I’m so close to tilting now, but I just muck and take mental notes. Great flop for his POS hand, I guess if it didn't win sometimes the fish would never play it.

Got him back a few orbits later. UTG+1 raises, villain calls from middle position, call from the hijack, SB calls, and I call 98 in the BB. Flop is Q86r, SB donks, I call with middle pair and back door straight and flush possibilities, raiser calls, villain raises, SB, me, and raiser all call. Turn is another 8. 3 checks, villain bets, call from SB, and I raise. Original raiser folds, villain calls, SB curses the dealer under his breath and folds. I bet a blank river, and get called by KQo. This was the start of a pretty good heater, I finally got some good starters and flopped good too, racked up way too early in the morning while up >$1500. I chatted with one of my buddies at the main game before I left, he couldn’t believe I was leaving with the line up I had, but it was 330 AM…

Saturday wasn’t a great day but I won some money so no complaints. There were two 5-100 O8 games going when I got there and only 3 30/60s with a short list, so I played O8 for an hour and won a couple of hundred before they started the 4th 30/60. My villain from last night was there with his short stack again, and the only hand we played together he got the best of me again, QJ > KQ on a Q high flop, J on the turn. 3.5 hours uneventful hours later and down a few hundred at a reasonably tough table, I decided to have another go at the 5-100 O8 game since there were still two tables running and at least one huge fish and several unknowns (that is usually a good sign). It was a pretty juicy table, often several limpers. So many people terrified of getting their AA cracked in this game, they’ll limp every hand and then open to $50, it’s a lot easier to play someone when their hand is face up. Eventually the list and game dwindled, and around 11 PM we were 4-handed, with one of the guys being a solid player from my Wednesday game and 2 unknowns who each bought in for 200-300. We played for a while with a mandatory straddle to 10, pretty good game. When we finally called it quits, I won ~$450 in a few hours, and racked up for the night with a ~$400 win.

Overall a losing week, I think I need to rethink some of the PLO/PLO8 strategy given the game dynamics. I feel kinda reinvigorated by the 5-100 O8 game at Ameristar, just in time for the WSOP Big O cash games…

Pin it up as a meh week. You've run well and bound for an off week. Were you more tired than usual? I find that if I'm tired, I'm much less sharp and just don't play well. Hence, why I rarely make it up there. Just so tired by the time I make it through the week to Friday morning (6 month and 4 year old at home) that the thought of driving an hour and a half to get to A* on Friday night is daunting let alone put in a 4-6 hour session with a strong focus.

Been meaning to ask and do not mean to derail your blog. Just curious about the dynamics of the 2-5-100 game. I've generally disliked the lack of money in play at the 1-2 game, so I prefer the 2-5 game. However, in the past I've had difficulty with the $100 max bet. I feel it really precludes playing with effective stacks. So while hero and Villan may be playing with $1000 effective stacks, the $100 bet limits those stacks in play. This has been a tough adjustment in year's past where I'm used to playing normal NL play. This is especially true in preflop play or in late hand play where the use of big bets or raises allow me to dictate and pursue certain strategies against certain types of opponents.

For example, against your classic NIT heads up, I may over bet the pot on the turn making a semi-bluff hoping that the NIT gives up. So if the pot is $250, I would bet $350. But with $100 max betting I cannot do that.

Do you feel that the 2-5 game turns into more like a limit game at $100 increments? And with the number of callers/ players per hand on average, contributes to it feeling like a limit game?

Again, sorry to derail. On the the CO regional page there really never has been a focus on strategy discussion with the $100 max betting, so I'm always curious on other players thoughts. Thanks.

Start opening to 100

I don’t see this as a derail at all, this blog is mainly about poker, so strategy discussions are fine. And regarding last week, thanks, I’m not too upset about it, it’s not possible to win all of the time, and the PLO/PLO8 game is tough, so I don’t expect to win more than about half of the time anyway.

Spread limit: this question gets asked from time to time in the CO forum. 1/2-100 has never seemed to me to be affected by the $100 max bet/raise, since I’ve never played a 1/2 game where people are very deep-stacked. 2/5-100 is obviously affected, so I’ll share my thoughts on that. Disclaimer: although I may not have figured out the optimum strategy, it hardly seems to matter much, as most players are fairly bad and it’s relatively easy to avoid the good ones.

Cliffs:
- You can’t bet enough to get a good player to fold, once the pot is ~$200.
- Most people at 2/5-100 (and 2/5 NL) are bad
- Bad players do not adjust to the changing pot odds and implied odds
- People are terrified of a $100 bet (at least the first couple of times you do it) and often fold when they shouldn’t
- Effective stacks is not a useful concept here

First, I bookmarked this thread as it’s one of the only spread limit ones I’ve found, and post #7 has an interesting article on exactly this topic. The concept of effective stacks is rendered moot by the max bet. Once there is ~2-3X max bet in the pot the game plays essentially like limit, where often times any pair has show down value.

Here’s an example of a hand I played a few months, it is very oddly played by everyone, perhaps even me. No real reads on the villains here, and I don’t recall stack sizes but pretty sure I covered everyone, not that it matters much. V1 raises UTG+1 to 15, 2 additional villains call, and I raise AK to 60 from the cutoff. I anticipate that this raise will make everyone fold, with the possible exception of V1. To my surprise, the button cold calls 60 (wtf?!), which starts the chain reaction, and the other all call! (Blinds fold). Pot is $300, five of us see a flop of 644. Three checks to me, and I bet 100. Button folds. V1 gives me the stare down, for like a minute. I must look supercomfortable (LOL) because he finally mucks, the other two muck as well, and I take the pot with a 1/3 pot bet.

Analysis: my flop play seems pretty standard, and it’s entirely possible I even had the best hand. But my preflop raise was maybe a little too light. Button’s play baffles me as I have no calling range to a 3-bet there (maybe AK? I’d be inclined to raise or fold that depending on the 3-better). V1 has an easy call unless he has a big hand or puts me on a squeeze play, but he doesn’t have enough history with me to do the latter. And presumably the others are now priced in as well.

Post-flop is even more interesting. It seems very unlikely that anyone has a piece of that flop. But you’re now getting 4:1 to call my hundred. If this was the 30/60 LHE, every single player would peel this flop, with anything! So, this is where I see the game being different from a limit HE game: the max bet is scary to people, and they will often fold fairly quickly to it. If I was V1 in this hand, I would probably call with any pocket pair, maybe even c/r (depends a lot on my opponent). I could envision having something like 77-TT and raise/call preflop.

So, IMHO, it doesn’t really turn into a limit game, simply because the players don’t really play like limit players. It’s this weird hybrid that is spread limit. And the correct strategy changes once the pot is ~$200-300, since you can’t put any true pressure on after that, at least to a solid player with a decent stack. Your semibluff example is a perfect situation, if you’ve bloated a pot on the flop or preflop and it’s suddenly fairly big, you don’t have a lot of fold equity, and you can only hope that you’re in a hand with players who find the $100 bet intimidating.

I guess the bottom line is more or less the same as with most poker games: you have to adjust your game to the size of the pot and the other players, if you can do this then you have a big advantage over the players who don’t make adjustments.



Went to a party in honor of Norway's independence yesterday, Gratulerer med 200arsdagen to anyone from Norway reading this (Happy 200 years). I brought some beers (no, the Deviant Dales did not make it to the party)

but ending up drinking a lot of this instead


(this is also a test of imgur for my upcoming trip)

Another Bad Day at 30/60

Another update on this week’s activity on the felt. The Wednesday game was 50/100 mixed this past week, 7-handed. We played the big mix: Stud/8, Stud, Razz, Razzdugi, Superrazzdugi, Badugi, 2-7 TD, Baducey, A-5, Badacey, and Omaha/8. Whew! A couple of the guys want to play 100/200+ mixed games next month in Vegas so they want to practice. They need it, too. It was a pretty uneventful session, I was up ~$1K early, then down about that much, and finally left up ~$800 after I caught a couple of big hands in Badugi (by far my least favorite of all those games, as far as I can tell there are two strategies: 1) draw well or 2) failing 1), get to heads-up in position against a solid player and snow).

No more Wednesday updates for a while, I’m traveling this week for work, and then the game goes on hiatus until after WSOP.

Got to Ameristar around 7 on Friday and got seated at a superjuicy 30/60 table quickly. There were 3 players at my table who were simply awful. The session started out promising as I won a couple of kill pots early on (flopped a set of 8s against AA once, then got c/r’d on the river by one of the bad players on a K456T board while holding KQ, I called and got shown 99) and was up ~$1K after an hour. Then I didn’t win a hand for 1.5 hours. Finally pick up a strong hand:

Awful guy raises from middle position, I 3-bet QQ from hijack, SB (cute Asian gal, but spewy at the poker table) calls 3, awful guy calls, 3 of us see a flop of 852r. Checked to me, I bet, SB c/r, awful folds. I have position and almost certainly the best hand, I just call, intending to raise most turns. Turn is T, she checks (?) so I bet, she c/r. I’m fairly certain I’m still good, I 3-bet, and she just calls. River is a blank, she k/c. I show my QQ, she shows me her T2s for a turned 2 pair, and I literally LOL’d. No gamble, no future!

Spend another couple of hours missing all flops, while watching the terrible guy on my left smash everything (any two suited seem to magically flop 2 pair every time for this guy) when this hand happens. Two early position limps, so-so reg raises the cutoff, marginal semi-reg calls the button, I call T8s from the SB, since this will likely be 5 to a flop for 1.5 more bets. But BB raises, then one of the 2 EP limpers caps, and everyone calls, 5 of us to a flop of TT8! $600 in the pot, I check the stone cold nuts, BB bets, two folds, cutoff raises, button calls, I call, BB calls. Pot is $840, turn is 6, checked to cutoff who bets, button calls, I raise, BB folds and says to me under his breath, it’s about time you won one! Cutoff surprises me by 3-betting, button folds, and I of course 4-bet. Pot is $1380, river is A. Definitely was not looking for an overcard to hit, but I bet and he raises, no way I’m folding here, but of course I’m shown AT. Ugh.

That was enough for me, I had a lot to do on Saturday, and I left down ~$2K.

Rolled my ankle during today’s soccer game, but we only had 11 show up so I played through, I later took two liquid muscle relaxants and several ibuprofen, I hope I can walk on Monday:




Not a big fan of Upslope, but the Belgian is decent, and the Deviant Dale's is awesome.

Oh, I have an avatar now, too!

Thanks for taking time to post your thoughts on the 2-5 game. Appreciate it as well as the link. Love the beer pics. Especially the Deviant Dales. Great beer for sure.

Looks like Mumph and I are going to head up to play at A* tomorrow afternoon and night. If you are going, PM me and let's meet up for a brewski.

Nice to meet you guys yesterday! I saw you leaving, it looked like you were unstuck and probably ahead a bit. Mumph also looked like he racked up a winner. I had a great night, all my draws got there and theirs all missed

Thank you for the meet up and everything it was a good night all around can't go wrong when all three of us where winners. Great blog and I look forward to your progress and the future post.

Another Weekend Heater

Memorial Day Weekend is here, which means two things: 1) The World Series of Poker starts next week! and 2) For the 18th consecutive year, I will not run the Bolder Boulder. Although 10K is a good distance for me, 50K+ runners is a little too many. Maybe next year…

No Wednesday game for me this week, I was in the DC area for work. I got to Ameristar around 7, introduced myself to Lawzag, and later had dinner with him and Mumph, they were not in Vegas mode (see their trip reports for what looks like a great party or three) and we had a relaxing dinner before going back to the grind.

I started off playing 2/5-100 Hold’em while waiting for my 30/60 table. Plenty of limping, and I raised a few good starters (AT, AK) but whiffed all flops. Then the following happens: UTG limps, folds to my AA on the button, I raise to 25 and everyone folds. Next hand folds to me in the cutoff and I raise 98 to 20, BB starts grumbling to the guy on his right about me raising yet again, and folds. Next hand is one limper, I raise JJ to 25 from the hijack, and this guy is now apoplectic from the SB. I tell him that he’s free to raise me, and he says, “I don’t want to raise, I just want to play poker!” Classic. He calls, limper calls, and the three of us see a flop of 666, I bet 50 and they both fold. I get called to my 30/60 game after a half hour, up $15.

The fourth table is pretty juicy. I run bad early when the terrible Asian dude on my right defends his kill, heads-up, with T6o against my raise, and takes out my KQs with his river flush. Lost the minimum there. Ran superhot after that, aside from 3-barreling a whiffed flush draw against Sam Grizzle. I didn’t know it was him until the weird guy on my right starting talking to himself about Sam, and I found his picture, definitely him. He seemed like a nice enough guy, of course I wasn’t about to pull a Phil Hellmuth and mock him after beating him, he had some meaty hands and I bruise easily…

The next must move was great as well. It was me, the best player from the Wednesday game, a strong reg, a LAG reg, and 6 fish. I connected with a bunch of flops and rivers, A9 > KQ for 4 big bets on the river flush, J9 rivers a flush against flopped trips (A33), and my raise gets called. One of the reg fish calls my middle position raise with AJ, I bet/3bet/call a Ax54 flop, and he checks behind on the turn (2) and river (7) with A5o. Did he really think I raised with A3 or A7?? I guess if he calls a raise with A5o then those are part of his opening range and must be part of mine.

Despite winning >$2K in 4.5 hours (almost exactly offset last Friday’s loss), I wasn’t especially happy with my play, I think I left some value on the table. Here’s a couple of hands that I definitely didn’t get max value:

1) 3 limps, and I raise KK from the small blind, big blind and all call. Flop is A87r, I bet and all call. Turn is a 5, and I check?? Hate the A on the flop, turn also could help somebody that calls the flop. But they all check behind, and the river is a K. I bet and all fold. Maybe this is too results oriented? Should I bet/fold turn?

2) I open KK from UTG+1, horrible calling station (T6o guy from a couple of paragraphs up) calls on the button, aggressive and decent reg calls from SB, spewey agro reg calls from BB. Flop is 873, I bet, button calls, SB c/r, BB 3-bets! I’m not going anywhere against these two, and call?? Sets, 2 pairs, and draws are all possible. Button calls. T on the turn, SB checks, BB bets, I call?? Flush draw doesn’t get there but straight does, and again 2 pairs are more likely. Button and SB call. River is T, BB bets, I call, SB calls. BB shows 98o, MHIG. Results oriented or lost value?

Saturday was another good day. I spent the early afternoon watching the awesome Champion’s League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, great game. Excited about the World Cup starting soon, although I don’t think the US will make it past the first round. There was an open seat at the 2/5-100 O8 game when I arrived, and I played that for 30 minutes until my 30/60 seat opened up. As usual, lots of passive play, and I raised my good starters preflop. I hit a couple of flops pretty hard but whiffed turns and rivers. Here are the two hands of interest:

I open A348 to 20 from UTG+2, 3 calls including the blinds. 80 in the pot, we see a flop of 752r, blinds check and I bet 35. SB, who is the host of my Wednesday game, c/r to 70, no softplay here! I know he has A3xx, but I have position, counterfeit-proof low, and a big draw, so I make it 170, he calls. Turns is a 9, he checks. This probably would have been a good time to take a free card, but I bet 100, stupid move knowing I’m only getting ¼ right now. River is a J, and he bets out, I call, he has A3JJ. Flop play was fine IMO but I definitely shoulda checked the turn.

Later there’s one limper, I raise AJ24 to 20, one call and limper calls, 60 in the pot. Flop is T23, I bet 20, limper calls, other guy folds, 100 in the pot. Turn is T, limper c/c my 75. River is K, and he leads out for 80. No way my 4-high flush is good here, I muck.

Just under $200 worth of damage before my 30/60 seat opened, I got lucky against the Wednesday game host on my final hand and took down a decent pot.

The 30/60 game was juicy again for the second night in a row, a bunch of limpers. I ran good again, was up close to $1700 then gave a few hundred back at one of the main games before getting most of that back and racking up. Here’s a couple of nice wins for me:

1) Agro Asian gal (she opens A8o UTG in a kill pot) opens middle position, 2 calls, and I 3-bet AA from the cutoff, blinds fold, all call, pot is 405. Flop is 878, checked to me, I bet, agro gal c/r, callers fold, and I call. Her range is obviously pretty wide here, I’m not going anywhere unless a diamond comes, pot 525. Turn is K, bet/call, pot 645. River 9, bet/call, she shows T9 and I fade the straight flush draw to take down a big pot.

2) Decent player limps UTG+1, I limp KTo, 3 limps behind, 7 to the flop of K75r, I lead out and get called in 5 spots. Turn is a T and puts 2 to a flush out there, I bet again, and some bad Asian guy raises, guy on my right cold calls 2. I make a mistake here and just call. I’m only behind a set, and this guy is more likely to have 2 pair. River is a J that completes the flush, and it’s checked around. Asian guy shows T7 , MHIG, but I left at least 2 bets on the table.

So two good winning sessions for the weekend but still room for improvement, I need to bring my A-game to Vegas next week. This will be my last update before I leave for two weeks in Vegas and some WSOP action. I’ll try yet another trip report in LVL, it’ll probably be a lot like this blog, with a little more food porn and some greyhounds. If anybody is going to be in town May 30-June 14 and wants to meet up for beers or food (I’m already drooling over my next Holstein’s burger!) then PM me. I anticipate splitting my time this year between the Rio, Venetian, Bellagio, and possibly Orleans and Golden Nugget (for other than NLHE tourneys) depending on tournaments and what cash games are running where.

Please explain where and why you think you should do anything differently in this hand.

If her range is wide and draw heavy, why aren't you raising this turn?

I think raising the turn is probably a good play because button and SB are likely on draws, possibly BB as well (he is a bad LAG). After the flop there are 10 big bets in the pot, so if I raise the turn the draws are getting 13:2 (SB gets 15:2 if button calls) instead of 12:1 (SB 13:1 if button calls) to call. Flush and straight draws still correctly priced in but gutshot isn't. Two pair draw is also no longer getting the correct price, even worse if you remove the ones that complete a flush. I don't want to get to showdown against 3 other players, just one is preferable.


In this hand I want to get to showdown. Given her preflop raise and call, her range that beats me is: 77,68,78,89,8T,8J,8A. I'm ahead of all of her diamond draws, 99, and TT (she caps JJ+). If I raise here she may 1) call, and fold the river if her draw misses, or 2) 3-bet. If she 3-bets I have a tough decision to make, if I call then I have to call the river as well. If I just call the turn here then she essentially has to barrel the river again if her draws whiff, or give up. With the turn K, she can now get away from 99 and TT if I raise. The only hands I raise the turn and get called on both streets are KQ/KJ/KT (I have the A).

I thought on hand 1 you would want to raise river because you are ahead which is really results oriented, and if BB would pay you off, you still get same amount of bets without opening yourself up to a 3bet. But yes raising turn is an option IF you can fold safely to a 3bet.

I didn't think of raising the turn in hand 1, but you make a good point. I still think raising turn in hand 2 is by far the better play, your hand should never be behind, charge her to draw.

I’m Back

Greetings all, my brief hiatus from this blog is over. I was trying to think of something clever for this milestone 500th post, but nothing that interesting came to mind.

Starting at the end of May, I spent 15 days in Vegas at the WSOP, I wrote a trip report with details. The main poker highlight was making Day 3 of the Millionaire Maker, best non-poker highlight was seeing Guns N’ Roses at the Hard Rock. I played poker every day except for one. I been watching lots of World Cup soccer, plus I won my “USA 3 or 4 pts” bet (+150). Tim Howard was amazing against Belgium, but they were the better team.

Since I got back to Colorado in mid-June I’ve only played a couple of time. The first was a Saturday night a few weeks ago, and the Ameristar was better than ever. There were only two 30/60 tables running when I got there, so I played 5-100 Omaha8 for 45 minutes (+100) until a third table started. The table was a good mix of people who will call you down with any pair and a few solid players, including DocSwag. I ran good at this table, my big pot went down like this:

Kill pot, DocSwag opens from UTG+1 to 100, killer (any pair caller, huge bluffer) calls in the cutoff, button calls, I call AQo in the SB, BB folds. Flop is AQTr, I check, Doc bets, 2 calls, and I raise, called in all 3 spots. Turn is a 3, bet/call/call/fold. River 9, bet/fold/call, and I take down a $1300 pot. Figured I needed to fade Kings and Jacks.

I finally got moved to one of the main games, and they were both surprisingly good. The calling station from the hand above was there, and she’s just a tilt machine when she’s losing, which is a lot of the time (you would be, too, if you played 80% of your hands). I don’t have any notable hands but racked up ~+$1200 in 7 hours of play, a very good night.

The next weekend I went to visit some friends in LA and Santa Barbara. No poker on this trip, although I did drive by Hollywood Park and The Bike on my way to Alhambra. Here’s a little food and beer porn for you:



Dumplings everywhere (sidenote: Colorado has lousy Chinese food)



The nearly empty glass is the Eagle Rock Ginger Saison, very refreshing on what was a hot night, and the Alpine Hoppy Birthday, possibly the hoppiest beer I've ever had yet surprisingly low alcohol content. Would drink both of these again.

Last night I went to the Ameristar since today is July 4th (Happy Birthday USA!). The drive was somewhat brutal because of everyone heading up to the mountains for the long weekend, and I had to wait a surprisingly long time for a seat. I played 2/5-100 for about half an hour before they opened a 3rd 30/60 game. One of my last hands before I moved was pretty interesting. Two early position limps, I raise to 30 from the hijack with TT, button calls, SB (home game guy, solid player if a bit too conservative) calls. First limper (wacky Asian gal, totally spewy) now raises to 130, other limper folds. I’ve seen her do this many times before, she hates it when people raise after she limps. Superbroad range here, small pairs, suited connectors/1gaps/A-rag probably. I’ve got position on her and anticipate calling down every street, I just call. Button folds, now it gets interesting: SB makes it 230. This catches me by surprise, but I suspect he has a small pair or AK, I know that he knows that the wacky Asian gal isn’t that strong. She calls the extra 100, as do I, and the pot is now ~730. Flop is T82. SB bets 100 with another 100 behind. Asian gal tanks then finally mucks, and I raise. He instamucks QQ face up. Wow, never thought he was that strong, and I can’t see how he could possibly fold on that board. So +650 for me at that game, and now it’s time for some 30/60.

I only get in one orbit at the must move before I’m moved to a main game. I’m at the tougher of the two main games but both tables are pretty good, and except for running KK and TT into AA in kill pots (I got away from this one on the flop since the villain was always very passive before this hand), I run very hot. One interesting hand played out as follows: 3 limps, aggressive guy raises the button, and I call from the BB with J9o. 5 to a flop of T87r, I check the nuts, 1st limper (total fish, plays way too many hands) bets, folds to button, who raises. I smooth call, and other guy calls as well. Turn is 3 and puts out a flush draw, and I bet because I don’t ever want this thing to get checked around. Limper calls, button raises again. I 3-bet, and limper tanks for a minute before folding, and button mucks immediately. Another big hand came on a flopped set in a multiway pot, I c/rd two players on the turn after smooth calling 2 bets on the flop, and won another big pot. A 4.5 hour session ended +> $2K for one of my best sessions ever.

Happy Independence Day!

Another Poker Update

I had an excellent 3-day weekend on the felt. I already wrote up the big night on Thursday, and I played both Friday and Saturday as well. Friday started off with a bang as I sat at 2/5-100 HE and got 3 pocket pairs (88,88, and KK) in consecutive hands and raised them all. First one had one limper, I raised to 20 from the hijack, button calls, limper calls, and 3 of us see a flop of 844 2-tone. Limper checks as do I, button bets 50 and I smooth call. Turn is a K, ck/ck. River J and I bet 50, he folds. Sigh. Next hand I open and all fold. Third one there’s one limper, I make it 25, folds to limper, who makes it 120 to go, I make it 220, and he puts another 65 on top and is all in. KK > JJ, and I take my 30/60 seat up ~$300 in half an hour.

Another soft table, and I’m mostly running good. I open KK from UTG in a kill pot, killer folds, fish calls, agro Asian gal (AAG) 3-bets, and I cap, fish calls another 2. Flop is K43r, I bet, fish calls, AAG raises, I call to let fish come along, and he does. Turn 5, and I lead out, fish folds, AAG calls. River A, bet/call, she claims AK but doesn’t show.

Of course, it’s never all good, I had AA cracked twice, once by a flopped set of 9s in a pretty standard hand, once by a LOL-played 87o that limped-called 2 and then check-called 2 on the flop with 2nd pair, caught 2 pair on the turn. Oh well, if bad play was never occasionally rewarded the bad players wouldn’t come back, right? No matter, I still won a lot of good-sized pots and racked up an additional $1800 here in 6 hours of play.

Saturday started with the first half of the Argentina-Belgium game, followed by a spin on some of the local trails with my 29er. I feel fast on that bike, I can only imagine how’d I’d feel 20 years ago when I actually was fast on a bike. A little nap before the awesome Netherlands-Costa Rica game (had to root for the Ticos since they’re a CONCACAF team, even though the Dutch were clearly better), and then on to the Ameristar. All 17 tables were running by the time I got there at 6, and only three 30/60 tables were going, so I played 2/5-100 for an hour before my 30/60 seat was available. I played pretty poorly at the 2/5 game and lost ~$300, most of that from paying off an OMC when he limped-called my raise, called my cbet on a paired board where I flopped top pair, then led out the turn. So bad, he’s OMC, he’s never bluffing there.

And 30/60 started out badly as well, when my flopped nut flush and gutshot draw missed everything and had to call 4 bets on the turn before folding the river. The fish were biting back hard for a while, and I was stuck ~$1500 before making a huge comeback. No particularly noteworthy hands, I got dealt KK about 4 times at the tough main game (2 huge fish and 7 solid if unspectacular players) and it held in some big pots. Also QJs in a multiway pot, flopped flush draw in position in multiway 3-bet pot, turned a Q and rivered a J, got paid by one of the fish. Racked up +~$1K after 5 hours.

3 strong winning 30/60 sessions this weekend, I’m on a bit of a heater now as I have 6 consecutive winning sessions, each one > $1K.

Another Winning Weekend on the Felt

The poker room at the Ameristar was super crowded this weekend, probably due to the huge BBJ. All 3 tiers are now $425K+. Two or three years ago the BBJs got to ~$750K, the place was crazy all the time then. If I was chasing that I’d play the passive 4/8 LHE game all day. 30/60 game rolls on, 4 tables ran both nights, and both nights played out very similarly, with a long run of folding my rags followed by a brief but massive heater.

I had a short wait for a 30/60 seat on Friday. The 4th table was very soft, lots of open limping, but I either folded a lot or couldn’t connect with a flop early on. The only somewhat interesting hand I played in a few hours was this: UTG limps, as he does with about 70% of all hands, and the best player in the Wednesday home game limps, I raise AA from the hijack, button and BB call. Now UTG decides to 3-bet, a move he has not yet pulled before. Home game guy folds, I cap, button and UTG call, BB folds. Flop comes AQA. A little too good for me. UTG cks, I bet, button folds, UTG calls. Turn 4, ck/ck. River T, ck/bet/call, and he mucks.

Here’s a hand I think I misplayed for at least 1, possibly even 3 or more, big bets. I opened KK from middle position, call from the button, blinds call. Flop is 653, I bet, button raises, SB 3-bets. SB doesn’t worry me much, he’s a fairly bad but aggressive regular, could be as weak as any pair. Button is new, seems like a so-so player, I think he’s playing a few too many hands and calling too often. I think I might be behind button, so I just call, and button caps. Turn is a K, SB checks, and I bet so as not to give button a free card if he’s on a flush or combo draw, and he raises, SB folds. His raise likely means he has made hand, either a straight, set, or two pair. At game speed I think he might have the straight but 74 didn’t seem like a hand he would call a raise with, he must have set or two pair, but I just call. River is an ugly 7, and I ck/call, he shows 66. Not quite sure what he would have done if I 3-bet turn, I think he would have 4-bet, thinking I had AK, and I could have 5 bet, at which point he probably would have just called. Still have room to improve my game…

No other hands in my notes, but I ran very good after the initial period of throwing away a bunch of hands, and went home up > $2K.

Saturday night I arrived around 5, and there was a bit of a list for 30/60, so I took a 2/5-100 LHE seat. Lots of open limping here, 4 limpers to me in the BB with AQs, I raise to 35, all fold. Easy game. The highlight of my 1 hour session here was when the button raises 4 limpers to 10, then the BB repops to 65 and all fold. Guy directly on my left (six seat) then berates the button (one seat), telling him if he raises he should be able to call a reraise, that we all want to see a flop. Huh?! Three hands later, six seat raises from UTG to 10. Hmmm, I wonder what he has?? Unfortunately, I had 72o in the BB and couldn’t call, and his AA held on a pretty ugly board. Of course he then proceeded to dazzle us with his brilliance about how he was waiting for someone to 3-bet. Uh, yeah, we all got that (at least I did) from your speech just a minute ago. They finally called down the 4th 30/60 game, and I racked up +$200.

The fourth table was okay, a few weak players, and I had a few premium hands, including AA in the BB in a kill pot, I flopped a set and nobody called. But I spent most of my time at this table and the next must-move folding my trash hands. My stack only ever went up or down a few hundred, until I got moved to the main game, and got the better table draw of the 2 main games. A few passive fish and a couple of agro fish, rest pretty solid. I finally starting getting a few premiums, and connecting with a few flops with my less than premium hands (flopped straight with 64o in the SB). Nothing worth writing up here, everything seemed pretty standard. I played for 7 hours total and won > $1K again.

The heater continues, 8 consecutive winning sessions at 30/60, all of them> $1K. I just looked back and saw that when I had the 14 session win streak from Nov-Jan I only had 6 sessions > $1K. Not sure what to think about this, it’s really not statistically meaningful, but it sure feels good

I’ll have plenty of time to play cards for at least the next several weeks, the ankle injury from soccer back in May turns out to be a fractured navicular bone in my foot, nothing too serious but enough to keep me off my bike for a few weeks until it fully heals (probably did not help that I walked on it for ~ 6 weeks before I had it x-rayed)



Oh, and game on for Wednesday! Looking forward to catching up with some of the tales from everyone’s Vegas adventures and playing a little PLO8.

It's been awhile, but if I recall correctly, I had KK there. That was a nice pot. And that was an epic night; I think we exchanged some texts about that night. After you racked up a nice profit, a goldmine took your place in seat 1. This guy sat down with a mountain of chips and over the next few hours redistributed to the rest of the table, with me being the main recipient. I was down about $800 after the kill pot above, but ended +$5k profit for my biggest win to date for a single session. Looks like the 30/60 is heating up again with the WSOP being over; keep killing it my man! I'm taking a break until Sept, so keep posting so I can keep up with the scene...

Bet turn, getting called by any spade...


If you didn't 3bet the turn, you sure as hell aren't 5 betting the turn if he 4 bets, lets be real.

Alive?