It felt so good to finally have a winning session today. I played at Binions for about 3 hours and finished ahead $160, most of it coming from one hand.
I limped in late position with TT. Normally I'd raise with this hand but I've been running so bad lately that I'm gun shy and playing very conservatively. A tight/solid player on the button raised to $15 and got a few callers, myself included. The flop came down 2-6-T with two diamonds which was a dream flop for me. The UTG player, who had just sat down and was playing his very first hand, bet out $40 and it was folded to me. I went all in with what I had left, which was about $120 total. It folded back to the bettor and he made a pretty quick call. We flipped up our hands and he showed 22 for bottom set. My hand held up and I took down a nice sized pot. Pretty brutal cooler for him, especially since it was his first hand. He only stayed for another 10 minutes or so before leaving in a huff after he lost another pretty big pot.
I like the atmosphere at Binions but I don't think the games are particularly easy there. I have yet to sit down at a table that you could call soft. There are a lot of guys who look like semi-pro's as well as a lot of tight local rock nits. There is a big absence of people who have no idea what they are doing and give their money away. It could have something to do with the fact that the World Series is in town so there are a lot of good players around, plus I've been playing during the day a lot which is usually tighter than at night. I think I need to put in a couple of 3 AM to 11 AM sessions at Bally's if I want some easy money.
Some drunken guy was asked to leave today because he was just being loud and obnoxious and abusive to dealers. He wasn't at my table but one of the nearby ones. At one point he went away to hit the bathroom or something and while he was gone one of the floormen sat down in his seat and picked his chips up. When the drunk came back the floorman said "here's your money," gave him his cash and told him to leave. The drunk guy took offense to this and looked like he was about to take a swing at the floorman. Security was called and they took the guy out. I was glad to see that. I've played at places where drunks are allowed to carry on for way too long. Nice to see they don't mess around at Binions! I'm sure 20 years ago they would have sent him headfirst through the front door "Casino" style.
$150 pot limit Omaha/8 tourny tomorrow at 4 PM!!!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Trip report so far....
Tuesday June 19
Tonight I went over to Binions to see what was going on and I saw that they had a 4-8 HORSE game going on. When I sat down I realized that it was actually ORSE as the hold 'em round had been removed, which was fine with me. Not long after I sat down players started to leave and eventually we were down to 4 handed, then 3 handed for a while, then back up to 4. There was a guy to my left who literally did not know how to play razz or stud 8, but this did not stop him from doing pretty well during those rounds after he had the rules explained to him. He actually forgot a couple of times that stud 8 was a split pot game and he said he threw away decent low draws. Eventually it was back to 3 handed again and this guy got into an argument with an old guy sitting at the table who seemed to have nerve problems of some sort because his arms and hands were always shaking. I have no idea what the argument was about but it seemed like the dude on my left just jumped down his throat for some reason, then got up from the table and left, thus breaking the game. When I saw him at the chip window he was like "Hey sorry about that..." and I didn't say anything, but still, I was thinking "What's your problem? Do you really have to yell at a shaky old man like that???"
I lost about $40 in this game and then went over to a 1-2 NL table. I was pretty card dead here and there weren't any real weak players with the exception of an old guy in a stupid-looking floppy hat who seemed willing to call obscenely large bets with extemely weak draws and hit them with some regularity. At one point I was bored and tried to get fancy by re-raising a solid woman from the SB with AQ. When the flop came all rags I fired like $40 into the pot and got called right away. We both checked the ragged turn and then she bet out on the ragged river which got an instant fold from me. I lost about $70 going for that stupid move and it left me feeling pretty demoralized. I went back to folding 90% of my hands and before too long I was down $200...
Wednesday June 20
The Binions Poker Classic is going on all this month and although I had only planned on playing in $150 PLO8 event, I saw they had a $150 NL Hold 'em event today and decided to play just for the heck of it. I actually wasn't sure whether I wanted to play or not. I stood there by the signup desk and I was kinda feeling like I really wasn't in "the zone" and that I'd be wasting $150 by playing, but at the same time there was this other part of my brain telling me that for some reason I was going to do really well in this event and that I would make the final table and that I'd look back and say "Ha! And I was thinking of not even playing this event!"
Well, turns out I should have listened to the part of me that was saying not to play. I played like crap. Total tight/passive, which is second only to loose/passive in terms of worst playing styles.
Example: Middle position player makes a standard raise. I have QQ ON THE BUTTON but only smooth call. The BB also calls. The flop comes rag-rag-rag. The BB checks and the original raises makes what I thought to be a very weak bet into the pot. It was like 1/3 the size of the pot and just screamed out "I HAVE AK, AQ, AJ, or worse." Once again, I just call. The turn bring an ace, and now the original raiser confirms what I thought he had by making a very strong bet into the pot. I of course know my queens are no good now and fold, but they were damm good pre flop and on the flop! The BB ends up staying in all the way and the original raiser ends up showing ACE-SIX OFFSUIT. Could I have played the hand any worse?
On another hand, I flopped trips in the SB and chose to slow play it, which I don't feel bad about, but when a flush came out on the turn I had to go into calling mode. On the river there were 3 of us left, and the guy who was representing the flush continued to bet strongly. He bet 1000 into a 2000 pot and the player to my right made the call after some deliberation. Now I had a decision to make, and it seemed my decision was a pretty easy one. I didn't think too long before mucking my hand, which of course turned out to be the winning hand as both of the other players showed aces up. In retrospect I think I should have called. The betting player had shown himself to be pretty loose throughout the tournament, and if the calling player really had a flush he prolly would have raised. I think the pot was big enough to warrant my calling, and if I had I would have been in pretty good shape at that stage in the tourny. Instead, I beat myself up over it and kinda resigned myself to the fact that wasn't gonna go far in the tourny.
Eventually our table broke and I got moved to a new table. I was in push mode at this point at the blinds were 100-200 and I had a stack of about 2100. A few hands into the new table I look down at AQ in early position and go all in. I get one caller who shows AJ. I flop a queen and he, of course, makes and open ended straight draw on the turn and, boom, he rivers the straight. I really could care less that I was knocked out of the tournament at that point, as I wasn't gonna make the money the way I was playing, even with that double up. I was just pissed that I had once again gotten my money in with the best hand in a completely dominating position and ended up losing the hand. Hold 'em has been so brutal lately!
Ok, enough whining. Nobody wants to hear a whining poker player, myself included. STFU Luke.
Friday June 22
Played 1-2 NL today at the Mirage and dropped about $140 in 3 or 4 hours of play. There was really only one hand of note, and it accounted for most of my net loss. A player in middle position raised to $10 and I looked down at AK in the small blind. The button called the raise, and I just called as did the big blind. The flop came K-rag-rag and it was checked to the original raiser who bet $10. The button called and I check raised to $30. The big blind immediately went all in for about $95 and it was folded around to me. At this point there was about $180 in the pot and it was $65 more to me which meant I was getting just under 3:1 to call. I really never thought about not calling as I felt I was getting a good price and there was a strong chance he could have AK as well. What I didn't take into account was that, at best, I was probably calling for half the pot and it was just as likely that he had a set or 2 pair and I was drawing extremely thin. I made the call and he showed the set. I don't know if I'd do it differently next time around... Again, it seemed like there was enough money in the pot to warrant the call. One thing I could have done differently is re-raised pre flop and there's a chance the BB would have folded his 44 and I probably would have won the hand unless the original raiser had AA. If the BB called, the result would have been the same anyway.
After this I played short stacked for a while and was eventually down to $18. A middle position player raised to $14 and I went all in with AT. It was folded back to him and he of course called the extra $4 getting better than 8:1 on his money. The player showed J2, which meant he was on a total bluff pre-flop. Anybody who knows how I have been running at hold 'em lately will know how this story ends. When he made his gutshot for the wheel on the river I was really not upset about losing the whole $18 I had in the pot, more I was just extremely annoyed that this kind of shit is happening on such a regular basis lately. It's like the poker gods are needling me at every chance just for the sake of doing it.
Sunday is my PLO8 tourny at Binions. It would be so nice to finish in the top 5 or so and have a nice payday, but it's a tournament so I never get my hopes up too high.
So far I'm down almost $600 for the week. I've had only 1 winning session. I haven't blogged about the 1-2 PL mixed game that I played twice at Binions, but that was good for about another $150 in losses. Long story short, it was a whole bunch of goofy shit with games like Juarez (5 card omaha hi/lo with double flop, double turn, and single river) and ABC which is 3 card lowball triple draw, and others. The players are crazy.... one guy claims he's gotten 11 hours of sleep in 4 days. When I played last night I was getting really annoyed because some of them were taking forever to make their decisions and they were just being generally loud and annoying. I don't know if I'll play in that game again. I loved mixed games to an extent but some of them are just so goofy.
Tonight I went over to Binions to see what was going on and I saw that they had a 4-8 HORSE game going on. When I sat down I realized that it was actually ORSE as the hold 'em round had been removed, which was fine with me. Not long after I sat down players started to leave and eventually we were down to 4 handed, then 3 handed for a while, then back up to 4. There was a guy to my left who literally did not know how to play razz or stud 8, but this did not stop him from doing pretty well during those rounds after he had the rules explained to him. He actually forgot a couple of times that stud 8 was a split pot game and he said he threw away decent low draws. Eventually it was back to 3 handed again and this guy got into an argument with an old guy sitting at the table who seemed to have nerve problems of some sort because his arms and hands were always shaking. I have no idea what the argument was about but it seemed like the dude on my left just jumped down his throat for some reason, then got up from the table and left, thus breaking the game. When I saw him at the chip window he was like "Hey sorry about that..." and I didn't say anything, but still, I was thinking "What's your problem? Do you really have to yell at a shaky old man like that???"
I lost about $40 in this game and then went over to a 1-2 NL table. I was pretty card dead here and there weren't any real weak players with the exception of an old guy in a stupid-looking floppy hat who seemed willing to call obscenely large bets with extemely weak draws and hit them with some regularity. At one point I was bored and tried to get fancy by re-raising a solid woman from the SB with AQ. When the flop came all rags I fired like $40 into the pot and got called right away. We both checked the ragged turn and then she bet out on the ragged river which got an instant fold from me. I lost about $70 going for that stupid move and it left me feeling pretty demoralized. I went back to folding 90% of my hands and before too long I was down $200...
Wednesday June 20
The Binions Poker Classic is going on all this month and although I had only planned on playing in $150 PLO8 event, I saw they had a $150 NL Hold 'em event today and decided to play just for the heck of it. I actually wasn't sure whether I wanted to play or not. I stood there by the signup desk and I was kinda feeling like I really wasn't in "the zone" and that I'd be wasting $150 by playing, but at the same time there was this other part of my brain telling me that for some reason I was going to do really well in this event and that I would make the final table and that I'd look back and say "Ha! And I was thinking of not even playing this event!"
Well, turns out I should have listened to the part of me that was saying not to play. I played like crap. Total tight/passive, which is second only to loose/passive in terms of worst playing styles.
Example: Middle position player makes a standard raise. I have QQ ON THE BUTTON but only smooth call. The BB also calls. The flop comes rag-rag-rag. The BB checks and the original raises makes what I thought to be a very weak bet into the pot. It was like 1/3 the size of the pot and just screamed out "I HAVE AK, AQ, AJ, or worse." Once again, I just call. The turn bring an ace, and now the original raiser confirms what I thought he had by making a very strong bet into the pot. I of course know my queens are no good now and fold, but they were damm good pre flop and on the flop! The BB ends up staying in all the way and the original raiser ends up showing ACE-SIX OFFSUIT. Could I have played the hand any worse?
On another hand, I flopped trips in the SB and chose to slow play it, which I don't feel bad about, but when a flush came out on the turn I had to go into calling mode. On the river there were 3 of us left, and the guy who was representing the flush continued to bet strongly. He bet 1000 into a 2000 pot and the player to my right made the call after some deliberation. Now I had a decision to make, and it seemed my decision was a pretty easy one. I didn't think too long before mucking my hand, which of course turned out to be the winning hand as both of the other players showed aces up. In retrospect I think I should have called. The betting player had shown himself to be pretty loose throughout the tournament, and if the calling player really had a flush he prolly would have raised. I think the pot was big enough to warrant my calling, and if I had I would have been in pretty good shape at that stage in the tourny. Instead, I beat myself up over it and kinda resigned myself to the fact that wasn't gonna go far in the tourny.
Eventually our table broke and I got moved to a new table. I was in push mode at this point at the blinds were 100-200 and I had a stack of about 2100. A few hands into the new table I look down at AQ in early position and go all in. I get one caller who shows AJ. I flop a queen and he, of course, makes and open ended straight draw on the turn and, boom, he rivers the straight. I really could care less that I was knocked out of the tournament at that point, as I wasn't gonna make the money the way I was playing, even with that double up. I was just pissed that I had once again gotten my money in with the best hand in a completely dominating position and ended up losing the hand. Hold 'em has been so brutal lately!
Ok, enough whining. Nobody wants to hear a whining poker player, myself included. STFU Luke.
Friday June 22
Played 1-2 NL today at the Mirage and dropped about $140 in 3 or 4 hours of play. There was really only one hand of note, and it accounted for most of my net loss. A player in middle position raised to $10 and I looked down at AK in the small blind. The button called the raise, and I just called as did the big blind. The flop came K-rag-rag and it was checked to the original raiser who bet $10. The button called and I check raised to $30. The big blind immediately went all in for about $95 and it was folded around to me. At this point there was about $180 in the pot and it was $65 more to me which meant I was getting just under 3:1 to call. I really never thought about not calling as I felt I was getting a good price and there was a strong chance he could have AK as well. What I didn't take into account was that, at best, I was probably calling for half the pot and it was just as likely that he had a set or 2 pair and I was drawing extremely thin. I made the call and he showed the set. I don't know if I'd do it differently next time around... Again, it seemed like there was enough money in the pot to warrant the call. One thing I could have done differently is re-raised pre flop and there's a chance the BB would have folded his 44 and I probably would have won the hand unless the original raiser had AA. If the BB called, the result would have been the same anyway.
After this I played short stacked for a while and was eventually down to $18. A middle position player raised to $14 and I went all in with AT. It was folded back to him and he of course called the extra $4 getting better than 8:1 on his money. The player showed J2, which meant he was on a total bluff pre-flop. Anybody who knows how I have been running at hold 'em lately will know how this story ends. When he made his gutshot for the wheel on the river I was really not upset about losing the whole $18 I had in the pot, more I was just extremely annoyed that this kind of shit is happening on such a regular basis lately. It's like the poker gods are needling me at every chance just for the sake of doing it.
Sunday is my PLO8 tourny at Binions. It would be so nice to finish in the top 5 or so and have a nice payday, but it's a tournament so I never get my hopes up too high.
So far I'm down almost $600 for the week. I've had only 1 winning session. I haven't blogged about the 1-2 PL mixed game that I played twice at Binions, but that was good for about another $150 in losses. Long story short, it was a whole bunch of goofy shit with games like Juarez (5 card omaha hi/lo with double flop, double turn, and single river) and ABC which is 3 card lowball triple draw, and others. The players are crazy.... one guy claims he's gotten 11 hours of sleep in 4 days. When I played last night I was getting really annoyed because some of them were taking forever to make their decisions and they were just being generally loud and annoying. I don't know if I'll play in that game again. I loved mixed games to an extent but some of them are just so goofy.
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