I wanted to do a session report from this casino game I played last night. There will be a moral at the end so stick around.

Backstory:
Local B&M, I hadn't played there in about 2 years. This afternoon I went in just to see the room. Was 1 table of 2/4 NL running, 10 handed. I railed and watched for 30 mins, saw 2 guys bet/call heads up to the river, one of them showing 29o spiking a 2 on the river for bottom pair, the other guy getting pissed and slamming his cards face down on the table.

Few hands later, same thing, except this time 26o and the guy had nothing, I mean nothing and he bet the river obv bluffing. He was called.

I was having palpatations, and I'm not even joking, I hadn't even considered going back here to play, once in those 2 years. Last time I was never rolled for it and felt poo-poo when I lost 3 buy ins, called it quits (for live poker at least). But those 2 hands and a couple others, plus the bet sizing and people leaving $25 behind when raising made me go home and spend the next 2 hours figuring if I could do it (financially).

Turns out I could, I rolled myself for 10 full buy ins, wrote down my rules (stop loss, only play weekend nights, etc) and booked it into town. lol bus.

Bought in full ($400), ended playing for 4 hours, was incredibly nervous at the start, but after making the following observations, I eventually settled into it:

• The majority of players play too loosely
• Many players are calling stations, calling with bottom pair for at least 2 streets
• Most of the players don't understand or track the pot size & bet accordingly
• If you had TPTK or two pair you are in value town
• Most players chase draws waaay too much

I saw a pot with 5 people in it, about $125, checked to the bettor and he put in $15 and 3 people folded. That's enough to call with pocket pair to hit your set!

It actually became very difficult to put players on ranges when I saw this hand:

UTG raises to $20
2 callers, rest fold
Flop is Q 3 T
Bettor bets 50% pot (one of the only decent players)
fold, MP calls
Turn is 3
Bettor bets again, is called
River is A
Bettor goes all in and is snap called by MP
Bettor had AQ.......MP had J3o!!

If you wanted to isolate pre, or thin the field, you'd have to bet seriously big, like 12bb.

Often it paid to do a small raise if you wanted to see a multiway pot. For instance I had JQs in MP, 4 callers to me, I raised to 3bb, 2 more callers, 1 fold, so we went to a flop 6-way. I missed, and it's an easy check when you miss in a multiway, let it go obv.

But I save the best hand for last;

5 limpers to the BB who raises to 5bb, 2 callers, SB shoves (??) for $100, BB calls, UTG raises to $300 (!), LP then goes all in for $500 (!?!?) (4 handed right now), the BB folds, UTG folds.

So it's heads up now between SB and this guy in LP, the pot is easily $1000. Take a minute here to think what hands these 2 guys might have. Go on I'll wait.

They had:

That got me pretty excited.

Moral of the story/post?

• I never considered playing 2/4 (I was a 1/3 man) I thought those players would be brutal. Turns out my assumptions were incorrect
• If you are curious, rail some of the bigger games, don't talk yourself out of trying a new level if you want to, and are rolled for it
• Just pay attention to the people and the action, when you're not in it, and you have a huuuge edge
  
  I had always thought 2/4 would be a much harder game, but just from that one game I can see I had nothing to be afraid of. A monday night with regs would be a different story but Sat evening it was perfect.

$125/$15 = 8.33

47 unseen cards/2 cards to hit a set = 23.5

Isn't it *4 for 2 cards to come? (~8%?)
(2 outs times 4 = 8%?)

But you are only paying for one card..

In the last hand, the pot is nowhere near $1000. one guy is all-in for $100 and one guy bet/folded $300.

Other than that, it just sounds like a very juicy low stakes game but nothing out of the ordinary.

Someone raising to $300 preflop to isolate a $100 all-in and then folding to another all-in of $500 is certainly not typical.

Neither is the limp/call/5 bet-ship.

It was a bizarre sight but no one seemed to think it was out of the ordinary (except me) but you won't catch me pointing that out.

It might also be worth mentioning that the 8.33 number i came up with is not 8.33%, but rather 8.33:1 pot odds, which is 1 out of 9.33 or... 1/9.33 = 10.7%

I've seen limp/call/shove for 100BB+ twice within a week when I played at the Bellagio in early October. And those games aren't crazy at all..

FWIW, one time it was 66, the other time 55. looks like people like to play their baby pairs that way. 55 flopped quads against KK and 66 held against AK.

But raising to $300 and then folding for $200 indeed looks strange..

Welcome to 'potential' sightings at my regular game!! I see nothing here out of the 'ordinary' at any room I've played in within Michigan, Ohio, Illinois or PA. Obviously you do need the 'right' players at the table ... We just don't play 'cards', we play poker and mix in some undisciplined gambling along the way!!

1) Pot was not over $1000 ... LP picks up the 'dead' $200 from UTG and is free rolling a $300+ main pot with SB. Over $1000 may have been 'wagered' but was never really in the pot once UTG folds out. Sure you can get technical here, but I'm one of those folks who rolls his eyes when the TV people say a guy won a 12 million dollar pot when he shoved 10 million into a 2 million dollar pot and took it down without a showdown.

2) UTG/LP are playing poker, and perhaps gambling a bit as well. They may know something about SB's shoves. LP also knows UTG can be trying to isolate the SB and plays back at him. It works, he picks up a net $100 profit and may be flipping against the SB for more.

I've isolated short stack shoves even without the benefit of a side pot just to 'gain' the 4 or 5 to 1 pot odds with marginal holdings. Many players will look at me and shake their heads and say "There he goes again" but I look at this just like any other math orientated decision we face in poker. Sure you can take the 89s to the Flop 4-ways, but why not do it knowing you have no further risk and are going to see all 5 cards?

There was a hand involving a chip leader where he shoved 47o into Vannesa Rousso after she tried to isolate with JJ. He knew her and she tank folded to the pressure. Good thing too, since he flopped trip 4s and eliminated the other player!! (which would've been her as well). He free rolled the main by paying attention to the rest of the action. Good poker. GL

Re; Rousso example; I think that's being a little results-oriented

You may be missing the 2 points ... but in both cases I think it was really thin and certainly very very situation based.

1) In both cases the 3-betting player picked up chips by pushing other players off their hands. This is poker, knowing your spots.

2) In both cases the 3-betting player is now free-rolling the main pot with no further risk to their stack.

It doesn't matter if 3BP wins the main, they already have a net increase in their stack. GL

Low limit live poker gonna be low limit live poker.....