Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Foxwoods Trip Report (part 2) - Results
The poker results for the weekend were "so/so". I beat up my first session pretty good and then lost most of the other sessions. Net – I lost $41 for the weekend. That sucks!
Key Hands:
Session 1 - NLHE w $1/$2 blinds $300 max buyin. There’s this one guy….there’s always this one guy - right? Anyway, he’d been steadily loosing. Loosing, bitching, loosing, bitching. You know the routine. Then, things started to turn around for him. He was seated on my left, switched seats and was now 4 seats to my right. He went on a tremendous rush. He turned his case $40 into about $650. I’m in the cutoff+1. He brings it in for a raise of $15. We are playing with $1/$2 blinds and opening raises are anywhere from $7 to $20. Most of the time a raise above $12 is a little weaker hand that needs some protection. I peak down and see pocket AA. I know, I know, ya don’t need to be a genius to play this hand. Anyway, I make a pretty standard play and re-raise to $40. It goes fold around to original raiser who calls. Flop comes J 3 x. It goes check. I bet $50 and get check raised to $150. Now I start to entertain the thought of a set, but only briefly. Ya see, I’m still glowing from a hand about an hour ago when I found pocket As against someone’s pocket Ks. It played the exact same way. On that hand, we got our money in. I won, end of story. Anyway, back to this hand….I called but was nervous. The alarm bells are gradually increasing in volume. The turn brings another 3. I thought this was a good card. If my nemesis was playing a hand like KJ, then an unlikely K on the river would not kill me. Now is when it gets strange. He checks the turn. That’s right, he check raised the flop and checks the turn. The volume on the alarm bells start to go a little silent. I check behind. The river brings a thing of beauty, an A, giving me Aces full. I’m only dead to pocket 3 (which is distinct possibility the way this hand played). He goes all in and has me covered. The alarm bells are on full volume again. My head is buzzing. Stop the noise. I have about $150 left. I call. He shows pocket Js for Jacks full of 3s.
Not to rub it in. I tell him that I would have folded to a large bet on the turn. His tricky play, checking the turn, cost him $340. Oh well, sucks to be him.
Session 4 – 4/8 Omaha 8 with ½ kill: There’s this one guy….there’s always this one guy - right? He is loud, obnoxious, and proceeding to get drunk. He announces to the table that he usually plays $100/$200 Omaha8, but he has lost a shit load and just wants to mess around. For the first hour, he raises every hand blind and reraises/caps anyone who pushes back – all of this is blind. He played two thirds of his hands blind raising and reraising on every street. Amazingly, he is winning money. There is some little old lady at the table who is going out of her mind. She tried limping into pots about 4 times, only to get blasted off her hand with 4 bets preflop. It was very entertaining. Anyway, the pots during this session are monsters. The folks that want to play hands end up putting in 4 bets preflop and then can not fold until the river because of “pot odds”. I estimated the ave pot size to be about $90 during this session. Anyway, through his mostly incoherent dribble, I discovered that he was a big fan of playing high only hands and then scooping the pot when the low doesn’t show up.
The hand goes like this. I’m dealt A Q 9 10 with the A suited. I’m UTG. I limp…expecting it to be capped. It is. 4 ways. The flop produces a board of 10 J 2 rainbow. This is a pretty good hand for me, but I check expecting it to get bet by someone. It goes check around to big spender who bets. I call with Top pair top kicker and open ended. We get 2 overcalls – most likely from dreamers holding unlikely runner-runner low hands. The pot now has 10 big bets. The turn brings a 9. Now I have 2 pair and still open ended. The board reads 10, J, 2, 9 - no low possible. I check. Check. Check. Big Spender, on queue, bets, I call. The two dreamers fold. The pot now has 12 big bets. I think to myself, “I need a 10. One time dealer…..TEN”. The river brings a K. That’s OK too. (Hey, it’s been a long session I’m not thinking clearly). I know have the nuts. The board reads 10, J, 2, 9, K. Here’s where the hand gets interesting. Not wanting to miss a bet, I lead out. I’m raised. I make it 3 bets. Big spender makes it 4. At Foxwoods, when you are head’s up there is no cap to the betting in limit poker. I make it 5 bets. Big spender makes it 6. Convinced we are chopping. I call and show the nuts. I’m disgusted that I’ll have to chop this pot. Big spender tables a straight to the K. He held 9 Q xx. The pot contained 24 big bets. This is $192 pot (of which I contributed $76). Wow! I’m convinced he would have kept re-raising until one of us was all in if I would have obliged. I should have. Oh. Well, live and learn.
Session 7 – The “Johnson” blow up - $1/$2 NL: I am CARD D.E.A.D. I’m tired. I need some friggin cards dealer. C’mon! I’m just coming off of a hand where I’m dealt AQo in the SB. I bet $20 into a limped pot. I get the BB to call and the 2 limpers. The BB is a very solid player. With $80 in the POT, I’m out of position with no pair and one overcard to a board of K 6 2. So I make a $50 stab at it leaving me with only $50 behind. I’m raised all in by the BB. And I fold. He shows me AA. Talk about waking up to a hand. This is the story of my night.
Anyway, I reload and win a little and I now have $225 in front of me. I’m on the button. There is a straddle. It gets called by 4 players to me. I look down and find KsQd. I ask, “did this guy straddle or did he open for $4?”. After everyone yells in unision, “STRADDLE”. I make it $20. The guy on the straddle, a pretty solid player, either attempting to defend his straddle or waking up to a big hand, makes it $40. I, sensing an opportunity to exploit my tight image I’ve been developing over the last 4 hours, make it $80. He calls. The flop comes rags 3d 6d 9d. I wanted to tell a story that I had a big pocket pair, so I bet $75. I’m such a donkey. The pot was gianormous at this point. My $75 bet must have looked pitiful. Anyway, I get called. The river brings 4d. I’m ready to give up the pot at this point. My nemisis now bets his last $75. I’m ready to muck, but I figure I better peak back down at my cards just to make sure I can safely fold. What do I discover? The Q of diamonds. I’m such a donkey. The queen of diamonds! BINGO! I have Q high flush. The pot has $321 and I need to call $75 and I’m beat by 2 hands - an Ad or a Kd. I call and I’m pleased to show the 3rd nut hand. Alas, I’m am crushed by the nut hand held by my nemesis - Ad Jh. Talk about waking up to a hand. Jesus! I picked this spot to bluff? WTF?
Key Hands:
Session 1 - NLHE w $1/$2 blinds $300 max buyin. There’s this one guy….there’s always this one guy - right? Anyway, he’d been steadily loosing. Loosing, bitching, loosing, bitching. You know the routine. Then, things started to turn around for him. He was seated on my left, switched seats and was now 4 seats to my right. He went on a tremendous rush. He turned his case $40 into about $650. I’m in the cutoff+1. He brings it in for a raise of $15. We are playing with $1/$2 blinds and opening raises are anywhere from $7 to $20. Most of the time a raise above $12 is a little weaker hand that needs some protection. I peak down and see pocket AA. I know, I know, ya don’t need to be a genius to play this hand. Anyway, I make a pretty standard play and re-raise to $40. It goes fold around to original raiser who calls. Flop comes J 3 x. It goes check. I bet $50 and get check raised to $150. Now I start to entertain the thought of a set, but only briefly. Ya see, I’m still glowing from a hand about an hour ago when I found pocket As against someone’s pocket Ks. It played the exact same way. On that hand, we got our money in. I won, end of story. Anyway, back to this hand….I called but was nervous. The alarm bells are gradually increasing in volume. The turn brings another 3. I thought this was a good card. If my nemesis was playing a hand like KJ, then an unlikely K on the river would not kill me. Now is when it gets strange. He checks the turn. That’s right, he check raised the flop and checks the turn. The volume on the alarm bells start to go a little silent. I check behind. The river brings a thing of beauty, an A, giving me Aces full. I’m only dead to pocket 3 (which is distinct possibility the way this hand played). He goes all in and has me covered. The alarm bells are on full volume again. My head is buzzing. Stop the noise. I have about $150 left. I call. He shows pocket Js for Jacks full of 3s.
Not to rub it in. I tell him that I would have folded to a large bet on the turn. His tricky play, checking the turn, cost him $340. Oh well, sucks to be him.
Session 4 – 4/8 Omaha 8 with ½ kill: There’s this one guy….there’s always this one guy - right? He is loud, obnoxious, and proceeding to get drunk. He announces to the table that he usually plays $100/$200 Omaha8, but he has lost a shit load and just wants to mess around. For the first hour, he raises every hand blind and reraises/caps anyone who pushes back – all of this is blind. He played two thirds of his hands blind raising and reraising on every street. Amazingly, he is winning money. There is some little old lady at the table who is going out of her mind. She tried limping into pots about 4 times, only to get blasted off her hand with 4 bets preflop. It was very entertaining. Anyway, the pots during this session are monsters. The folks that want to play hands end up putting in 4 bets preflop and then can not fold until the river because of “pot odds”. I estimated the ave pot size to be about $90 during this session. Anyway, through his mostly incoherent dribble, I discovered that he was a big fan of playing high only hands and then scooping the pot when the low doesn’t show up.
The hand goes like this. I’m dealt A Q 9 10 with the A suited. I’m UTG. I limp…expecting it to be capped. It is. 4 ways. The flop produces a board of 10 J 2 rainbow. This is a pretty good hand for me, but I check expecting it to get bet by someone. It goes check around to big spender who bets. I call with Top pair top kicker and open ended. We get 2 overcalls – most likely from dreamers holding unlikely runner-runner low hands. The pot now has 10 big bets. The turn brings a 9. Now I have 2 pair and still open ended. The board reads 10, J, 2, 9 - no low possible. I check. Check. Check. Big Spender, on queue, bets, I call. The two dreamers fold. The pot now has 12 big bets. I think to myself, “I need a 10. One time dealer…..TEN”. The river brings a K. That’s OK too. (Hey, it’s been a long session I’m not thinking clearly). I know have the nuts. The board reads 10, J, 2, 9, K. Here’s where the hand gets interesting. Not wanting to miss a bet, I lead out. I’m raised. I make it 3 bets. Big spender makes it 4. At Foxwoods, when you are head’s up there is no cap to the betting in limit poker. I make it 5 bets. Big spender makes it 6. Convinced we are chopping. I call and show the nuts. I’m disgusted that I’ll have to chop this pot. Big spender tables a straight to the K. He held 9 Q xx. The pot contained 24 big bets. This is $192 pot (of which I contributed $76). Wow! I’m convinced he would have kept re-raising until one of us was all in if I would have obliged. I should have. Oh. Well, live and learn.
Session 7 – The “Johnson” blow up - $1/$2 NL: I am CARD D.E.A.D. I’m tired. I need some friggin cards dealer. C’mon! I’m just coming off of a hand where I’m dealt AQo in the SB. I bet $20 into a limped pot. I get the BB to call and the 2 limpers. The BB is a very solid player. With $80 in the POT, I’m out of position with no pair and one overcard to a board of K 6 2. So I make a $50 stab at it leaving me with only $50 behind. I’m raised all in by the BB. And I fold. He shows me AA. Talk about waking up to a hand. This is the story of my night.
Anyway, I reload and win a little and I now have $225 in front of me. I’m on the button. There is a straddle. It gets called by 4 players to me. I look down and find KsQd. I ask, “did this guy straddle or did he open for $4?”. After everyone yells in unision, “STRADDLE”. I make it $20. The guy on the straddle, a pretty solid player, either attempting to defend his straddle or waking up to a big hand, makes it $40. I, sensing an opportunity to exploit my tight image I’ve been developing over the last 4 hours, make it $80. He calls. The flop comes rags 3d 6d 9d. I wanted to tell a story that I had a big pocket pair, so I bet $75. I’m such a donkey. The pot was gianormous at this point. My $75 bet must have looked pitiful. Anyway, I get called. The river brings 4d. I’m ready to give up the pot at this point. My nemisis now bets his last $75. I’m ready to muck, but I figure I better peak back down at my cards just to make sure I can safely fold. What do I discover? The Q of diamonds. I’m such a donkey. The queen of diamonds! BINGO! I have Q high flush. The pot has $321 and I need to call $75 and I’m beat by 2 hands - an Ad or a Kd. I call and I’m pleased to show the 3rd nut hand. Alas, I’m am crushed by the nut hand held by my nemesis - Ad Jh. Talk about waking up to a hand. Jesus! I picked this spot to bluff? WTF?
