O-Poker

(warning - really long post to make up for the lack of recent posts)

Wow!! To say it has been a hectic month is an understatement. My work doesn't require me to travel very often. I may have to travel outside of Florida 2 or 3 times a year for work. That seems to have changed lately and all the travel came in a one big wave. The work travel combined with my trip to the WSOP in the middle of the month means that I was away from home more than I was home during June. I am getting settled back in, so I should be able to get back to updating the blog more often.

My June consisted of:

May 30th (Saturday) - Get a phone call from client asking me to go to California on Tues for 4 days
June 3-6 (Tues-Fri) - Working in California
June 9-15 (Mon-Sun) - WSOP trip
June 16 (Mon) - Get an email from client asking me to go to Hawaii for a week
June 22-27 (Sun-Fri) - Working in a Hawaii; did get to surf and meet gnome so not all bad.

WSOP Hands

I wanted to post some interesting hands that came up during the trip - a few cash hands and a few tourney hands

Cash Hand 1
5/10NL at the Rio - Awesome Table; One really horrible player (Seat 2) would couldn't fold preflop; One medicore player (Seat 8) that was playing horribly because he kept trying to bluff the horrible guy that couldn't fold.

Me - Seat 6

I was barely above even at the table when a young guy sat down to my right. He bought in a little short, and seemed to be playing tight when the following hand came up.

I'm dealt K6o in the BB. Everyone at the table limps to me. I think that a couple of people from the table next to us may have even limped into the pot. (You gotta love live poker.) I check from the BB.

Flop 662 - two diamonds

SB checks, I check and someone it checks around the whole freaking table.

Turn Kd - Bingo, Bango, Bongo!!!

SB checks. I bet $40 hoping someone will raise me with the flush, the Ad, or air.

One guy in MP calls. It folds to the SB. SB raises it to $100. I think for a while and raise it to $250. MP folds. SB insta-calls.

River is a blank. SB checks. I put him all-in for about $550 more. He thinks and thinks and thinks. He keeps talking out loud trying to put me on the hand. He seems to have convinced himself that I have at least a 6 and probably a full house. He finally makes the call with a Jack high flush!! (You gotta love live poker)

Cash Hand 2
5/10NL - same table. Remember Seat 2 is horrible.

I'm sitting on the button (Seat 6) with around $2,500. Seat 2 has luckboxed (no joke) his way to about a $4,000 stack.

Seat 6 limps. It folds to me. I raise to $50 with AJs. SB folds. BB calls.

Flop A44 - 2 spades. (I don't have spades - obviously)

Seat 2 checks. I bet $90. He min-raises to $180. I call. This guy was prone to making really big raises when he hit a flop. He was playing ATC pf, so a 4 was definitely in his range, but he would have made a bigger raise if he had the 4. He, also, made big raises with flush draws, so I figured that wasn't in his range.

Turn - blank.

He checks. I check for pot control since we are fairly deep and my hand can't stand a big check-raise.

River - blank.

He checks. I am 90% certain that I have the best hand. I value bet $150 and he insta-min-reraises me. Normally, in a live full ring cash game a river check-raise equals the nuts, but against this guy it doesn't mean anything. I call with my top pair, jack kicker and he immediately says, "You win." and mucks his cards. WTF did he think I would fold? A busted flush draw? I had to call $150 into $775 pot.

Cash Hand 3
5/10NL - same table; I wasn't involved in the hand, but shows just how crazy Seat 2 was playing.

Seat 2 - $3,500 +/-
Seat 3 - $1,100
Seat 8 - $2,300 +/-

I think that I was BB (seat 6). Seat 7 folds. Seat 8 raises to $60. Seat 2 re-raises to $800 - no joke. Seat 3 (a very solid player) insta-shoves. Seat 8 thinks for a while and counts his chips then shoves. Seat 2 calls.

Seat 3 - obviously has AA.
Seat 8 - QQ - He figured he was beat by Seat 3, but had about double the chips of Seat 3 and Seat 2 covered him. So not a bad spot to shove based on how idiotic Seat 2 was. Thoughts?
Seat 2 - 88 (You gotta love live poker)

The AA held up for a triple up. QQ broke even or +/-$100 on the hand.

I really didn't want to leave the table, but I had plans to meet Miami Don, CK, Weak_Player, and Bayne for dinner. The guy in Seat 7 and I had been talking about how great the table was for a while. When I mentioned to him that I had to leave to meet some people for dinner, he said, "How well do you know these people? I'm not getting up to eat or use the restroom until Seat 2 leaves." LOL - I really wanted to stay, but eventually left for dinner.

I'm not sure how Seat 2 wound up, but while I was there he went from $1,500 to about $5,500 to $0. Re-bought for $1,500. Back up to $3,000 to $0. He had just re-bought for another $1,500 when I left.

Cash Hand 4 (Sets suck - part 1)
1/2NL at the Venetian with several bloggers - Smokkee, Weak_Player, MiamDon, CK, Astin.

Smokkee had recently left the table to play in a tourney.

Me - Seat 5 ($350 +/-)
WP - Seat 6
Don - Seat 7
CK - Seat 8 ($375 +/-)
Astin - Seat 9

Clearly, I had horrible position at this table, but I made up for that by open raising for 6x every hand with ATC. Correct strategy, right? :)

2 limpers to me. I make my standard raise to $12 with 66. A couple of callers including CK.

Flop J65 - 2 hearts.

I bet $20. CK raises to $60. I decide that she most likely has a set - possibly 2 pair, because I hadn't seen her make a big raise without a big hand. I shove and she calls with JJ.

I don't improve. Set no good - Part 1.

Cash Game Hand 5
1/2 NL Blogger Cash game at Venetian - a couple of hands after the set over set to CK

Me - Seat 5
Seat 4 ($220 +/-) - not a blogger

I make my standard raise with 6d8d and get a couple of callers.

Flop 5x7d9d - Nothing like flopping the nut straight with a straight flush re-draw.

I bet big. Everyone folds. Seat 4 calls.

Turn Ax.

I bet big again. Seat 4 calls again.

Turn - blank.

Seat 4 checks. I put him all-in and he says, "OK, let's see it." as he is calling with A2 - no diamond. I got a good chunk of the $ that I sent to CK back.

Cash Hand 6 (Sets suck - Part 2)
Thoughts on this hand?? Anyone play it different??
2/5NL at the Rio. I sat down at Vinnay's table. It was fairly late and I was playing way too loose. Shortly after sitting at the table, I got a text message from Vinnay that read, "Seat 1 is tricky. Be careful."

Seat 1 - Old guy with a big stack of chips. He had shown the nuts a few times. I, also, saw him shove with a flush draw (or maybe a pair and flush draw) on an earlier hand.
Me - Seat 6 ($600 +/-)
Seat 5 - Not very good. Liked to bluff.

I'm dealt 88 in the BB. I don't remember the exact action. Small raise pf a couple of callers (including Seat 1 and 5) and I call.

Flop is J93 - 2 spades. Checks around or maybe the old man in seat 1 makes a small raise. A little fuzzy.

Turn is an 8 - not a spade.

Seat 5 bets $50. I make it $150. Seat 1 shoves. I make what in hindsight was probably a bad call. I would be interested to hear if anyone folds here. I think that I may have it I hadn't seen him shove earlier with a pair and flush draw. I figured he could have 2 pair, a flush draw with a straight draw, a pair and a flush draw, a set or a straight. I felt like I had to call based on the board and how wide his range could be there.

He had QT for the nuts. I didn't improve.

Cash Hand 7 (Playing Blind against Vinnay)
2/5NL - same game as above

Me - Seat 6 ($400 +/-)
Vinnay - Seat 8 ($400 +/-)

I Mississippi straddled the button. Vinnay made it $40 blind. Folds to me. I call blind.

Flop 883.

Vinnay bet $160 blind. I decided to look and see A6. I figured that I'm ahead of his random hand range and call.

Turn is an overcard and he shoves blind. I call.

Turn is another big card.

I turn over my A6.

Vinnay turns over his first card - 2. I'm looking pretty good to win. Next card an Ace.

Split pot!!! LOL!! We were both glad that we split the pot. I'm think that we should probably just flip a coin next time to save the rake.

Cash Hand 8 (Sets suck - Part 3)
5/10NL at Rio - Late at night playing short handed - 6 or 7 handed.
Me - Seat 8 ($1,800)
Seat 9 ($3,000)
Seat 6 ($1,650ish)

I am dealt 33 in the SB. Seat 6 had been raising pf quite a bit. He makes it $35. I call. Seat 9 (very active since the table has gotten short) raises to $100. Seat 6 calls.

Flop - A36 - 2 spades - Bingo!! Bango!! Bango!!

I check. Seat 9 bets $100. Seat 6 raises to $200. I raise to $500. Seat 9 folds. Seat 6 thinks for a while and calls.

Turn - 10x.

I shove for $1k. Seat 6 thinks for about 5 minutes and calls.

River - 9s :(

Seat 6 had KsJs and hit his flush on the river. (You gotta love live poker) He called $1k on the turn with 12 outs and 1 card to come.

Overall. I finished slightly down in the cash games after getting off to a great start.

I didn't play many tourneys, but will probably post of couple of key tourney hands in another update.