Damn, I can never manage to complete a post here now, I have one from a few weeks ago almost completed, now another long weekend of poker has passed and I’m gonna try again.
It’s Monday of President’s Day weekend, and I really wish I didn’t have time to write this post-I’d rather be playing the final table of the HPT at Ameristar. The HPT is in town, which is always a great thing from my perspective. The main reason is that a bunch of tournament and NLHE donks show up, many of them have heard about the 30/60 game and want to play because 2/5-100 spread limit is weird, most of them suck at LHE. The secondary reason is that the main event ($1650 buy in) here always has a huge prize pool, > $1M and between $200K-250K up top. I try to play when I can, and this time I decided to take a 4 day weekend and play on Friday. I went up on Thursday night to play a satellite, got there an hour after it started and was 50th on the alternate list, decided to go play 30/60 instead. I was up close to my tourney buy in, then couldn’t complete a draw while all of my opponents made theirs, I gave it back plus another $1500. Left too early in the morning.
I still managed to get in a run on Friday morning before heading up to Golden Gates to play the tournament. I had a good starting table, only knew one person there from the 30/60 game, he’s very good. But half the table was atrocious, I couldn’t believe some of the hands that were turned over. I stayed up most of the time, and knocked out 2 players with this hand: guy on my right limps (this is a guy who twice open-limped the button!) and I raise TT. Donkey caller calls from BB, we see a flop of 876 two-tone, BB chks, limper shoves for ~ twice pot, I call, BB now reshoves a bit more which I call. BB has Q9o, limper has A9o, I fade everything and now have chips. No other notable hands, but I did get moved directly to the left of Dan O’Brien for the last 30 minutes of the night. He had a big stack and is now at the FT. I racked up about 125K, just under chip average (30K starting stack, about 20% make it through to day 2).
Day 2 is quick write up: There were 160 people starting day 2, 81 get paid. Despite being very close to median in the chip counts, I was second in chips at my starting table. I knocked out a short stack early, he shoved from the button with 63s, I called from SB with A8o. 3 in the door, followed by A and 8, 8 on the turn finished him off. Half an hour into the level (2000/4000/500) I have about what I started with when this happens: chip leader at our table opens to 8000 UTG, I look down at AKs in middle position and make it 25K, he shoves. I didn’t think too hard about calling, figuring I’m flipping. If I fold I have M~9, might be able to ride that out for a cash. If I win the flip I’m in great shape, big chip leader at my table and have a chance to pick off the short stacks and maybe make a deep run. He has QQ, I don’t improve and head over to the Ameristar. No real regrets over this decision, I want to go deep in this tournament where the real money is, while a min cash is better than not cashing, I can make min cash money in a good night at 30/60 (and I’ve had a bunch of those lately, more on that later).
That’s the tournament write up, now to this weekend’s cash games. We’ve had a high pressure system here keeping the weather unseasonably warm for the last week or so, up in the 60s. Saturday morning I went for a run in shorts and short sleeves, don’t get to do that in February in Colorado very often. I wanted to get to Astar at a reasonable time because the lists were crazy on Friday (~20 on both 30/60 and 50/100, all tables filled by 7 PM) while I was in the tournaments, didn’t want to get shut out. I arrived at 430, there was a fairly long list for 30/60 (3 tables running) but open seating for 50/100. The 50 game didn’t look great, they were playing 5 handed with 2 very strong players, 2 so-so players and one guy I’d never seen before, I sat directly to his left. My first hand I’m in the BB with 55, button-2 opens, strong player #1 calls (?!), I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before, not quite sure what to make of it. Fortunately my decision is pretty easy, the flop comes A55, I chk, opener chks, next bets and I call, opener folds. Turn T, chk/chk?! I bet the river 9, he calls and shows me AQ. He must 3b that 95% in a 6 handed game, and how does he chk back the turn??
Next hand I have A
6
in the SB, button opens, I 3b, BB and button both call. Flop is K
J
9
, k/k/b, I call, BB raises, button folds, I call? Seems okay to peel one here getting 13:1, villain is one of the so-so players, I don’t have much experience with him so not a very strong read. Turn is J
, I ck/call with nut flush draw. River is an interesting card: K
. Now I have nut flush on double paired board against a guy who craised a K-high flop. I think I’m gonna chk-fold here, but he surprises me and chks back, shows me QT for the flopped straight. Clearly running good now…
Very next hand the other strong player opens button-2, I 3b black kings from the button, blinds fold, he calls. Flop is 9
9
3
, he craises, I don’t think he has a 9 but decide to delay raising until the turn because he might fold if I 3b here. Turn is K
, I just call, probably should raise in case he has a flush draw. River is a blank and he chk/calls and mucks. Quite a start to a 50 game! One other interesting hand: blind vs blind, I’m the BB against the unknown, he raises and I just call A5s. Flop is A high, he bets, I raise he calls. Turn is a blank, he k/c. River is another overcard to my kicker, so I decide to just check back, he shows K2o (no pair)?! One of us doesn’t know how to play heads-up, and it’s entirely possible it’s me…
Played for a little more than an hour, game got even shorter and wasn’t that good anymore, so I took my 30/60 seat when it came up, +$2K. The 30 game was short-handed and included Dan O’Brien again. There were a bunch of people moved, and all of a sudden we were down to 3 people. We decided to wait for more people (there were a bunch of call-ins) so I got to chat with Dan a bit, seems like a nice guy. Soon the floor told us he couldn’t have a dead table, he was gonna open another 2/5 game if we didn’t play and let them rake $1/hand. Only lasted a few minutes before people started showing up, but seems like a terrible idea. There were no empty tables at that time, they’re really just gonna run 2 30s and 1 50 on a Saturday night?! I’d guess a 30 table rakes ~$160/hr (32x$5) versus ~$110/hr (22x5, this seems optimistic since not all hands at 2/5 rake $5), seems like they can wait half an hour.
Only interesting hand at 30/60 was this: I open K
K
UTG, guy directly on my left calls. He was at my starting tourney table and seemed okay, he folded AQ after I 3b him, said I’d played pretty tight so far. Button 3b, blinds call and I cap, 2 calls, 5 to the flop. Flop is T
5
7
, I bet, only BB folds. Turn is 6
, guy on my left and button both call. River 2
, guy to my left calls, shows 5
2
. I took a little break after that hand… Came back and called a raise with 52s in my BB 3-way to the flop, AK5r flop, I k/c, turn 5 I cr, he calls, river Q, same action, he shows me AK. The 52s giveth and taketh away…
I rack up +1200 additional profit at 11 PM so I can get a good night’s sleep before day 2 of the HPT. BruhKGB, you asked for chip porn, this is all profit:
After busting the HPT on Sunday I headed across the street to Astar to play some cash. There were no seats at 30/60 (second table had just opened) but 2/5-100 O8 had a couple of seats so I took one. You may recall that once upon a time this was my main game, at least for a few months. And the game was awesome, forgotten how terrible people play this game, they way overvalue big pairs and sets. Here was my big hand: I open A
2
5
Q
to 20, 2 calls behind me and BB calls as well, 80 in the pot. Flop is Q
4
3
, huge for me. I’m happy to try to take this down right here, I bet 60, first caller folds, next guy makes it 160, BB folds. Only my second orbit so I have no history with this guy but he has another 1K behind, I decide to just call and see a turn. Turn is 8
, interesting because I have naked A
. I chk, he bets 100, and I decide to take the safe route and simply call. River is A
, gives me the wheel. Now I’m not worried about getting quartered, and I bet out, he calls and mucks. Can’t imagine what he flopped that didn’t include a redraw, maybe a set and a low? He turned out to be pretty terrible, if I had played with him longer I would’ve played this hand way more aggressively. After an hour my 30/60 seat opened, and I racked up +$400.
I sit down at 30/60 and only recognize half the table, the rest are wearing hoodies and baseball caps, I know it’s gonna be good. I post behind the button, it folds to me and I raise T4o, because if it folds to you when you post you’re supposed to raise 100% of the time. New guy on my left just calls, SMH. Blinds fold, we see a flop of Q63 2-tone, and it goes k/k. Turn is a 5, I bet my straight draw, he calls. River 2, he calls, and gives me this incredulous look when I roll my hand over. This is why the HPT is so great, he has no clue about where he is in a hand, because it’s limit. Needless to say he busted out 20 minutes later, didn’t seem too happy about it, probably told his pals about the donkey who raised T4o and sucked out on him, if only he could get me at NL
All kinds of run good during this session, bunch of my big hands held up:
1-I 3b 99 from the button, flop top set on 2-tone board and bet, BB calls initial raiser folds, I turn quads and chk, he bet/folds river.
2-I 3b K
K
from the button, crazy LAG calls BB, opener calls. Flop T
8
7
, I bet, LAG craises, opener calls, I don’t care much for the board texture and just call. Turn is 3
, b/c/c. River is K
, b/c, now I’m way ahead of 2 pair and raise, LAG tank-folds, opener knows he’s beat but only a little more than 1 bet left in front of him so he calls, MHIG.
3-This is my favorite simply because of the villain, he’s superLAG, terrible player but thinks he’s a boss. When he’s on tilt he can showdown with ATC. Always asks the dealer to wash the deck when he loses a hand, which is frequently. Seems like a nice guy though, pretty friendly at the table. SuperLAG opens middle position, I 3b QTs from the button, BB calls, LAG calls. Flop is 689 2-tone, I have backdoor flush draw, BB chks, LAG bets, I call. Turn 7, they both k/c. River 5, same action. Later on LAG moves directly across from me at the table, and he and the BB start talking about that hand and criticizing my preflop raise, as though I can’t hear them.
In the other nearly completed post that I hope to complete later I mention that part of the reason I want to resume posting these is because it forces me to analyze my play more carefully-I’m trying to avoid mistakes that are costing me money at the table. I think I played this session very well, the one notable exception is this hand. Kill pot, killer is in the cutoff, folds to me in the BB and I raise AQs, he calls. Flop 875 none of my suit, I k/c. Turn is an Ace, I bet and he raises. He’s a regular, I think he’s pretty strong and he’s telling me he can beat an Ace. But I call anyway? River is a blank, I k/c, he shows me 96o for a flopped straight. I didn’t improve to 2 pair or trips on the river, I think I should’ve folded, he does not have a whole lotta bluffs there.
Nonetheless, I had an awesome session, made a lot of hands and got paid in all of them. This includes my O8 winnings, in for $1500:
Finally, the elusive orange $1000 chips are here! For as long as I’ve been playing, purple $500 were the biggest available at the cage, but one guy who has been playing for a long time had a bunch of orange chips that he would occasionally show off. Now, apparently 30/60 players have taken so many purples out of circulation they’re giving out orange chips if you ask now:
That’s all for now, gonna try to get out in the nice weather. I hope to get back to making these posts on a somewhat more regular basis!