Well, I guess it’s true. I’m a poker degen now. Whatever. It lets me pay my bills, buy baseball tickets, and other niceties. So I’m not complaining. Before I get into the big poker hands, I’d like to mention a few words about the Borgata buffet. It was thirty dollars to get dinner, and it was worth every penny. The food was soooo good. Started off with a bucket of shrimp cocktail. =D Maybe, I should just get a room and live there for the summer. Maybe… Anyway, I sat down at a 1/2 table with 200 when I got to the Borgata. Here are some of the big hands:
| Hand 1: I was under the gun. | |
| My hand: As Ks | I raised to 15. The girl next to me, a cute Chinese girl that looked like Hsu Qi called, and everyone folded. |
| Flop: Ah Qh 3h (pot: $33) |
Um… Shit. Why are there so many hearts? Hoping to bet her out of getting a draw, I bet 45. She calls. |
| Turn: 9s (pot: $123) |
I know I shouldn’t, but I checked, and she checked. |
| River: Kc (pot: $123) |
I was perfectly happy to see this card. I bet 60 (half pot). She called and flipped over pocket kings. |
| Hand 2: I was BB. “Hsu” raised to 8. #6 and button called. SB folded. | |
| My hand: Jd Td | I like this hand. I call. |
| Flop: 2s 5h 9c (pot: $33) |
Exactly the flop I wanted to see. Everyone looks disappointed. Checks to me, I bet 10. “Hsu” calls and the two players after fold. |
| Turn: Ts (pot: $53) |
Nice. I have top pair. “Hsu” checks, I bet 18. She hesitates for a sec, but calls. I guess she has two spades and/or a stright draw. |
| River: Js (pot: $89) |
Yessssshit. Fuck. Um… What do I do? She looks at me with her pretty eyes and bets 30. *sigh* The hands that beat me are 22, 55, 99, TT, JJ, 78, QK, and two spades. The pot odds I’m getting is 4-to-1. So I call. She shows A9s. She’s raping me; I guess normally that’s a good thing, but not at a poker table. |
| Hand 3: I was on the button. Everyone called before me (7 callers). | |
| My hand: Ad 5s | Eh. Whatevs. I raise to 20. Hsu folds, BB folds. #3-5 call, #6 and #7 fold, and #8 and #9 call. A pretty big pot. |
| Flop: 6d 9h 2c (pot: $127) |
Completely missed the flop. *sigh* But to my surprise, everyone checked to #9 who bet 5. I raised to 20, everyone folded except #6. |
| Turn: 8s (pot: $172) |
I picked up a gut shot. #6 bets 15, I call. |
| River: 7d (pot: $202) |
I hit my straight; it’s bittersweet. What if there’s a ten out there. Sure enough, the guy bets 30. So I start thinking about the hands that beat me. There’s the ten high straight, but that’s very unlikely, given the betting patterns. He’d have to pocket tens. Maybe he has AT, KT, QT, JT? But then what were those bets and calls? *sigh* Now I was thinking that he has pocket pairs; it’s more likely that he had an overpair than having a set. In either case, I have him beat. So I raised to 75. The guy folds, flipping over pocket queens, and mutters “you got so lucky.” I told him that I had aces and pulled in my winnings. |
After that hand, I got up with ~650. I took 250 off the rack, ensuring a 50 dollar profit, and sat down at a 2/5 table with 400 dollars.
| Hand 4: I’m under the gun,, and I look down at my hole cards I’m dealt. | |
| My hand: 7c 7s | I raise to 20. Everyone folds to SB, who raises to 40. Big blind folds. I call because I’ll have position on him. Bad reasoning? Maybe, but whatever. |
| Flop: 7d As 7h (pot: $85) |
BWAHAHAHA. This is awesome. SB bets 50. I raise to 150, and SB calls without hesitation. =_= I guess he has AA and thinks that I have a seven. Well, I guess he’s right. |
| Turn: 4c (pot: $385) |
SB bets 100. I shove all in for 125 more. He calls. He shows pocket rockets, and I show my awesome hand. He is fucking pissed. |
| River: 6h (pot: $635) |
SB is pretty pissed, so he gets up, looking for a different table. I’m pretty happy. |
| Hand 5: I was the cutoff man. #4 calls, and everyone else folds to me. | |
| My hand: As Kh | I raise to 30. Button and SB fold, BB calls, and #4 calls. |
| Flop: Ts Tc Qd (pot: $92) |
Checks to me, I bet 50. BB folds and #4 calls. |
| Turn: 2c (pot: $192) |
Killer card. xD #4 checks; at this point, I decided that he has a high queen and not a ten. I bet 100, half pot. He calls. Oh shit. |
| River: 2h (pot: $392) |
#4 checks. Shit, what do I do? Then I realize that I’ve been representing a ten, so I bet 350. He sighs, then folds and shows KQ, and says “I guess my queen’s no good.” Haha. I show my cards, and he’s fuming. |
Two hands later…
| Hand 6: I was sitting in the #7 spot. Everyone folds to me. | |
| My hand: Ad Ah | I raise to 25. Everyone folds to SB, who calls. BB gives me an evil glare, which is at the same level with that of Yusra, and raises to 50. I laugh at the striking similarities of the evil eyes, and then raise to 100 total. SB folds, and BB raises all in. It’s 227 more to me; I guess I have to call. He flips over Kh Ts… I love players on tilt. |
| Flop: 3s 4s 7s (pot: $679) |
What the fuck. No spades better come… |
| Turn: Td (pot: $679) |
*sigh* Now I have to hope for no ten or king as well. |
| River: 2h (pot: $679) |
Phew. My aces hold up. |
| Hand 7: I was sitting under the gun. | |
| My hand: Kc Kh | I raise to 30. Everyone folds to cutoff man, who raises to 75. Everyone folds. I call. Maybe he has pocket aces… Hopefully not. |
| Flop: Kd Ts 5h (pot: $157) |
Great flop. I bet 125. Cutoff ponders for a second, then pushes all in. It’s 152 more to me. I call. He shows pocket aces. |
| Turn: Td (pot: $511) |
I have a boat. =D |
| River: Ah (pot: $511) |
Fuck. D= After that, I got up. |
+1100
1) ???? why are you raising to 15 with no limpers? Just make it 8 or 10 or whatever… why overbet the pot? 20 or 25 is enough. Remember, you are not betting to get her *out* of getting a draw - you are betting so she’d draw incorrectly! Why do you *not* want her to put money in when she is behind???? think about it =) The turn check is so bad that I am barfing, since you are giving any heart a free draw on you - the only reason to check is to check-raise, but who is betting into that board with 3 hearts???? River is fine, though the streets before it are all horrible.
2) call preflop is perfect - no need to raise here and get fancy, especially when a girl raises she’s not folding to a reraise. I’m confused on position because it seems you should act before her because you are BB and SB folded, but how come she acts before you on the turn and river??? If she has position on you, check/fold the flop - I don’t like donkbetting into the preflop raiser who is a girl and probablyu has an overpair and being out of position *and* having no draw! I hate this bet. If she doesn’t, then betting is okay, but I still probably just check since I have no backdoors at all. Furthermore, the bet is so small that you are just spewing money out of position. Ugh - flop is horrible. As played, the turn bet is still horrendously tiny but not as bad as the flop bet. Betting is fine. When river comes and she bets, just call. You played those two streets fine. The flop is horrendous.
3) okay I know I tell you to raise with trash from the button, but this is one really really big exception - small unsuiited aces. Here is why - a big % of live players will NOT fold an ace to a raise, so you’re going to be in a billion pots with people with A6, A7, A8, etc.. all of whom are going to get at least two bets out of you if an A hits, and even if you hit your other pair they will have at least 6 outs every street. This is not pretty. To be honest I either call preflop or let it go. Notice that raising with 67 is much much much better than raising with A5, because you aren’t going to be trapped by domination nearly as much - maybe 78, or A7 at the worst. So don’t play preflop like this. As played, the tiny bet is hilarious, but wtf is wrong with your raise? you are raising 1/6 pot!!!!!! at least make it 60 if you want to take this flop down. Turn is fine, I guess, and make it at least $100 on the river. Why do you bet so small? do you not like money????
4) no, you call because you can hit a set and have position on him. Otherwise, the rest of this hand is sort of idiotic and plays automatically. There’s really no content in this hand, except I might just call flop instead of raise since it is so dry.
5) perfect raise size preflop. bet flop is good. When a live player calls you on a board like this, he proibably always has a piece, and you are not going to fold him unless a scare card hits (like an A) on the turn. I think betting turn is bad. As played, your river play is excellentexcellentexcellent!!! You are representing the exact hand and you are folding the Q. To be honest though, I probably just bet around 200 for a bluff. And there is no “shit” involved. PRetend you are him and have a T. Do you honestly check all 3 streets? you bet the river!! So he never ever ever has a T and always has the Q. Perfectly played.
6) why the hell did you make it 100? If you raise raise bigger, like 200. But otherwise I’d just call since I am in position and I want him to bluff into me. Stop making these tiny raises.
7) this is a completely different case, you are out of position. Stop worrying about the damn aces. Make it 200 is fine. Calling is also fine, but I like to bring out the big bets. on the flop, I rather bet around 100 since it isn’t that drawy.
Comment by Yan Zhang — May 20, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
everything yan said
Comment by Antony — May 21, 2008 @ 12:19 am
lol yan is mean :-P.
1. i pot the river.
2. raise the river to 80 or so. her most likely hand is an overpair, not a flush.
3. just call or raise small. yan is wrong here. if you raise big, you will never get called by worse.
4. call flop for sure. there is lots of time to get the money in and your hand is a lock. you don’t want to chase away KK.
5. the turn bet is ok though a check might be better…it depends on the opponent. as played, if you bet turn you need to bet river. implicit in yan’s commentary is the idea that while you should perhaps have shut down at one poitn during the hand, playing aggressively necessitates following through later on. in this case, checking the turn and shutting down may be more profitable than barreling both the turn and river, but barreling turn/river is more profitable than betting the turn and giving up on the river.
6. yeah if you’re going to repop preflop, make it 3x his bet at least. but yan is right that the proper play is probably to call in position and play a flop, unless you think he only reraises with monsters in which case just get it in now.
7. never worry about AA preflop. just don’t do it. you are calling preflop to slowplay, not because you are scared of AA. as played, standard. i’m sorry about the beat.
in general, keep your raise sizes consistent. try raising to 4bb + 1 extra for every limper. by varying your raise size based on hand strength you make yourself extremely readable.
nice session. i’m in AC this weekend. call me on saturday if you’re available and we can meet up.
paul
Comment by Paul — May 23, 2008 @ 12:22 am
You are awesome O.O lol.
Comment by Steven Nguyen — October 15, 2008 @ 10:02 am