Sometimes I'm not sure (WSOP hand)

The setup is the $10k pot limit hold'em event. 250 entrants and it's accurate to say it's a tough field w/ very few weak spots. I get on a very tough table w/ 4-5 aggro Euro kids who know how to play + couple other young kids, Bttech, Jared Jaffee (who busted and was replaced by Sam Stein), and Rick Solomon (the dude that offered Pamela Anderson to pay her huge loss in a Vegas casino for a night of, ummm, fun...eventually they marry and divorce).

We start w/ 30k and I'm down to about 25k playing 250/500. Utg opr to 1200, I flat w/ 45s on the button, bb calls, flop J64r w/ 1 to my suit, chk chk I bet 1700 (to try to win it there, case can be made for checking but I like betting since bp is so vunerable and I should only have to worry about bb because utg checked which likely means he has nothing), bb folds, utg c/r to 4400 (he has me covered).

Now let's assess his range...1st of all, he seems like a young competent thinking player (although even some competent mtt pros don't seem to understand how to play postflop well) so I would expect him to lead w/ all jacks, overpairs, 66, 44 (to get value from jacks), 87, and some random air hands inc. AK. Given that he doesn't cbet flop means he's giving up or is slowplaying JJ, that's pretty much it. Well once he c/r's me I know he has JJ or air, and given that there's a lot more air in his range, mostly due to combinatorics, and his possible line of thinking being "well this good looking asian dude can be just trying to steal it on the button since we both checked to him and w/ the bb out of the way let me put him to the test and resteal vs his possible steal w/ my air + backdoor equity", I call w/ my bp (possibly the best hand) + backdoor draws + position.

Turn 9 bringing 2 hearts (not my suit), chk, chk (I just want to get to sd because my hand is likely good now but I can't stand another c/r so I elect to check), riv offsuit Q, he bombs 11k and I go into the tank. Once he checks the turn we can almost eliminate JJ unless he was going for a weird and rare c/r, c/shove line. Now I go through in my mind everything I just wrote and can't figure out what the heck he has or is repping. Again if it was a bad player, he's liable to show up w/ AQ, sets, AA, etc since they have no clue, but this kid wasn't bad. Also he wouldn't bomb the river w/ top pair type hands because he would know my most likely hand are busted draws or a jack so he'd value bet around 6-8k at the river.

The only hand I think he can have is A4s, T8, KT or air...but A4s is probably not in his range because he probably cbets that on the flop. Well if he backdoored a straight and it's either that or air I should call. My bp is pretty much equivalent to AJ (I won't totally discount overpairs since it's possible some mtt pros take this line).

Here are a few more reasons for calling (pros for calling)...

-He seems like a young mtt pro....probably not experienced in postflop play and just making plays for the sake of it to win a pot w/o having an idea of what he's really repping...this happens more often than you think, even in $10k's

-The field is tough and I don't expect guys to give chips away like they do in the smaller buyins so there isn't much merit to the "wait for a better spot" reasoning, so I need to seize the +ev spots, even if they're marginal

-I have a little over 10bbs if I lose and I can still come back

Here are my question marks on calling (cons for calling)...

-When he bombs the river like that, he's more likely to have the straight, as unlikely as it may seem from the flop on...so I'm not 100% sure if it's +ev to call...I think it is, but not as much as I thought it was at the time

-It's a big bet and chips saved are more valuable than chips won in mtts so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to call in a very marginal spot even though I felt it was slightly +ev

I asked a couple of very good players and they both thought it was a fold but I think they were putting more weight into the actual river bet size (and 'waiting for a better spot") than the entire hand (my thoughts on it anyway)

I elected to make a hero call and lost to KT. I don't feel bad about how I played the hand because my read was spot on and I went w/ it. Again I don't know if that's enough reason to risk most of my stack though.

In a cash game I almost always call since I feel it's +ev, but again it's different in tournaments where it's sometimes correct to pass on marginal spots, including very small +ev spots.

Sometimes I'm not sure .

As for the tournament I built my stack up from 6k to 32k (illustrating why calling isn't bad since I can come back) and got it in at the 400/800 level w/ TT from the bb vs a Euro kid in the co in an obvious squeeze spot (button had called as well and we were playing 7 handed w/ 5 more hands left for the night) and busted to QQ.

Thoughts and comments are appreciated (and yes you can tell me my call is bad as long as you give reasons why).

Thoughts

After everything that's transpired the last couple of days, I've had some time to take it in and form some thoughts. Even though I have a family, own 2 Las Vegas properties (not necessarily a brag because mortgages are sky high from buying at the worst time possible) and owe some taxes (shipping it Monday) I'm pretty upbeat about everything. Maybe because I've always seen the glass half full. Also has to do w/ my strong religious faith.

I read this piece today and I agree w/ most of everything the writer says...

http://www.billrini.com/2011/04/16/fallout-full-tilt-pokerstars-pullout/

Although Black Friday is bad for the short term I think it's good for the long term. Sure some will disagree but I see a push for the legalization of online poker. If and when that happens everybody will rejoice and it will be PartyPoker all over again (not really but things will be much better than the status quo we were in).

In the meantime what are professional poker players to do? Well since I consider myself a well rounded poker player (I've stressed before it's beneficial to be good at many forms of poker including live poker) I can go play live for awhile until we have a clearer picture of what's in store for us. Also I've strategically placed my family in Las Vegas for times like these (well, that and home prices were much cheaper than in California at the time) so I can play poker in the casinos. I blogged about my live experiences and how "soft" I consider the games so I expect to do ok although I think I will have to double, maybe triple my hrs to match my income from online poker (even then I may not be able to match my online earning power..we shall see).

I also have experience grinding live poker 40hrs/week. This was over a decade ago and games were much different then (just limit games and very soft) but I've become a much experienced and a better player so I expect to do ok until online poker comes back.

As for others, I'm not them so I can't answer for them. I notice some fellow Cardrunners' guys increasing their coaching profiles so good luck to them. I'm not sure what's going to happen to the online mtt'ers that depended on mass volume to eek out a profit (I guess it's going to cost Sheets and Bax a lot of money too), the hu specialists (see what bumhunting gets you, not skillz that's for damn sure), sit n go specialists (gl trying to find sit n go's in live poker rooms or trying to make a living playing $110 sit n go's when they run...one at a time), the rakeback pros (Venetian and Wynn in Las Vegas pay back around $1/hr to play in their poker rooms...just think of it as a demotion guys), plo players (some rooms spread a $1/$2 plo game...or a $25/$50+ plo game...gl playing your A game in the small game waiting for the big game), and sponsored site pros (lol).

Most of the guys I've met that I played vs. online or heard about are really smart guys that probably won't have much of a problem getting a job. Others will probably move to another country and keep grinding online (probably applies more to mtt'ers than cash game players since the latter can just go live). A few will probably try to circumvent the US laws and install vpns and play on Euro sites from home. Some will move closer to live poker rooms and grind live.

I do think for poker players that choose to keep playing poker, this is a good time to broaden your game and knowledge and start learning other games and formats. After all, nobody has a clue if and when online poker will come back to the U.S. Even when it does it will help tremendously if you are experienced at many forms of poker. Trust me.

Which leads me to my last point...I'm probably going to start coaching live poker (all forms including cash games, tournaments, and mix games) and if anybody is interested, feel free to send me an email (nicolak4@hotmail.com) or shoot me a pm at Cardrunners. Next time I will discuss this in more detail.

Check my live graph...

NYE at Palms

I was not planning on going out for New Year's eve. Actually I was planning on doing what I've been doing for the past 8yrs while I've lived in Vegas. That is just having a quiet celebration w/ my wife and kid in our house and taking in the fireworks over the Vegas strip from our balcony. Also I was planning on grinding a little w/ one of my 2011 goals being achieving supernova elite. Well my kid was staying w/ her cousins in Los Angeles and my buddy Joe T sent me a last minute text saying he got Jeannie and me VIP passes at the Palms for the NYE celebration.

We've always avoided the strip during NYE because it gets closed off to all automobiles and it becomes a zoo w/ thousands of people walking shoulder to shoulder on the strip. Well Palms happens to be just off the strip so I knew we were able to drive directly to it. Once we got there there was literally no parking available so I had to park across the street at a bank's parking lot.

Anyway we get our VIP wristbands and get into Palm's primary nightclub Rain. We were happy to see that we got our own booth. For those of you that don't know, booths in nightclubs are expensive to rent out. I remember spending $3k on one in LAX (at Luxor) on my wife's birthday last year. A lot of that is paying for the alcohol which they overcharge you immensely for. For her b-day we had to order a minimum of 2 bottles and we ended up getting 2 bottles of grey goose for $300-$400 a bottle. Yeah, you can get the same bottle for 1/10th the price at any liquor store.

Anyway this was a booth in a hit nightclub on NYE so I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to hang out in a booth all night. Besides the alcohol hot girls bring, there is plenty of space and sofas to sit down on. If you aren't fortunate to get a booth you have to spend the whole time standing up in the club, not to mention being jammed in space.

I guess Joe's roommate's new gf had some hookups and got the booth. I'm not sure of the price but I heard somewhere between $5k and $10k. Also Rain had Oakenfold as their DJ for the night. I'm not sure who he is but I heard he's some world famous DJ. Well we ended up drinking, partying, and ringing in the New Year's there and had a blast. My wife and I are not much of drinkers but we'll shoot down a glass or 2 on special occasions and I guess NYE would qualify as one.

Somewhat funny story of the night...walking out of restroom, some guy asks me if I have a light, I say no, he says you sure, I say yeah but my buddy might have one...I turn to my buddy, he says he asked you for white, not a light, I say wtf is that, he says it's coke, I think really? Do I look like a %^$& coke head?!

Anyway besides talking about my awesome NYE night out, I thought this would give me a chance to post some pics for those of you that wanted to put a face on myself, my wife, and some Vegas friends (along w/ pics of the scene last night)...

The booth awaits...



















Rain...



















Joe's fiance getting drunk on Fiji...
























Oakenfold dancer electrifying the crowd...
























Oakenfold the DJ...



















Hemma and his gf Laurie...



















Joe, Jeannie, and me...
























Yeah I run good in life :)
























On balcony of Moon, another nightclub/bar at Palms...



















Hope everybody had a great New Year's eve!

Next time I'll recap my 2010 and talk about my goals and outlook for 2011.

Live Poker

So I've been dabbling in live poker this month. I started off winning my 1st 3 sessions feeling like live poker is the easiest thing since my drunken date during my sophomore year in college. Then I went to go play $5/$10 nl at the Venetian and played this hand. Epr w/ $1500 opens to $40, mp w/ $900 calls, I, on the button, 3bet to $160 w/ KK (have'em both covered), both call, flop comes 853r, epr donks $350 (which I love to see because it usually means they don't have KK beat or else they'd c/r or c/c flop), mp calls (which I'm somewhat concerned about because she could have anything from a set to 99-QQ), I shove, both call, I turn to the mp girl and tell her I like her hand...epr rolls over 24s, yes....24s, girl rolls over 33...but hey, at least I win a nice side pot as long as epr doesn't hit his oesd....turn Ace...doh! River doesn't pair and he scoops a nice $4800. He somehow manages to build his stack to around $6500 or so and goes broke w/ KK....postflop...on an ace high flop!! No kings in sight either. I lose $1300 that night.

Then this past Saturday I get invited to play in a $2/$5nl game w/ a mandatory straddle $10-$50 on the button at the Palms. I heard this game is really juicy w/ Michael Phelps having played in it the night before. He is somewhat of a competent player from what I know. Anyway I get in the must move game and get up $1800 right off the bat. I see Phelps come into the room and he gets into a smaller game while waiting to get in my game. You can kind of make out this huge samoan guy standing behind him in the pic...that happened to be his bodyguard. I guess if you confronted Phelps or hit a 2 outer to beat him in a pot you'll have to answer to that dude.

The game played around $10/$20 to $15/$30 nl because some were stradding to $10 while a few others were stradding to $20-$50 w/ several guys having $6k-$10k in front of them. Anyway having been used to playing online and understanding how online regs thunk, playing w/ competent live pros was a nice change of scenery, although I was befuddled at some of the lines the better players took in the game.

A typical hand was button straddle to $20, ep limps, bad epr makes it $70, I flat w/ KTs right behind, another bad player calls, solid sb player makes it $245, ep folds, bad epr calls, I decide to call because I had $8k as did everybody else in the hand (or more), bad player behind me calls so there is about $1k in the pot. Flop comes T73r, chk, chk, now I feel like I have to bet here w/ tp2k so I bet $500, bad player behind me folds, solid sb player calls which has me scratching my head...I guess he's potcontrolling an overpair or AT here, bad epr calls which doesn't mean much because he could have anything. Anyway I'm pretty sure I'm beat by the solid player so I was rooting for a T or K. Turn is a Q now solid player leads for $1300, bad epr raises to $4k, I fold, solid player tanks and says to the bad player you have Q7 or nothing here...finally folds I assume is an overpair. Bad player shows 77 for a flopped set. I don't mind bad player's line although I prefer calling the turn in his spot since he can put both of us on made hands (err, I guess he can't since he was only playing his hands). I don't really understand supposedly solid player's line of 3bet preflop oop, c/c flop, lead turn line. If he had just cbet flop, bad player calls, then I could fold and save $500 (a little whining on my part). This "solid guy" took this line several times. I was beginning to wonder if I had poker all wrong because I was losing every hand while this guy was winning the most. I understand there are times to pot control and/or to induce bets by worse but this guy was doing it almost everytime. You rarely see online regs taking this line consistently.

Anyway I play this stupid hand as well...2 opl, same bad player raises to $50 (after $10 button straddle), I flat w/ A5s on button and we take the pot 5 handed. Flop comes AT7 w/ 2 to my suit so I have the nut flush draw, everybody checks to me and I begin to think whether I'm supposed to bet here or not because of all the pot controlling and flop checks going around (even by the "good players" in the game) and felt like I was obligated to bet something so I bet $135 and get called by an epl and the bad player. Turn comes J of spades bringing 2 spades (along w/ 2 diamonds for my nut flush draw), chk, bad player now leads for $300 (again another head scratcher of a line but w/ a bad player it's understandable), I call, now epl c/r to $900, bad player calls, now I have to call esp. considering that bad player has me covered w/ about $10k in front. While the dealer makes the pot right, I pray to God please let me hit a non pair diamond one time (because I was losing every hand up to that point). River rolls off 5 of spades bringing backdoor spades and giving me Aces and 5s...nice %&^$%^% card I think. Ep player now checks, bad player bets $1500, I fold knowing I'm beat, ep now c/r's again! I start thinking wow, this guy must've c/r'ed the turn w KQ or 98 of spades or a combo spade draw on turn. He goes all in for another $1500 more and bad player snap calls w/ 73 of spades...which is good! Ep player shows AJo for top 2.

Let's dissect this hand. I'm not fond of ep opl w/ AJo utg, not fond of bad player's preflop raise w 73s, I'm ok w/ my flat w/ A5s ip. On the flop I'm ok w/ everybody's line except bad player's call w/ 73 of spades on an AT7 2 diamonds 1 spade. Ep should've c/r'ed the flop though knowing I could be betting a wide range on the button and probably don't have a big ace or else I would've reraised the bad player preflop. On the turn I hate bad player's sudden donk of $300 into the flop better (me) w/ bp + flush draw he turned (lol), my call is standard, ep's c/r is standard although he could've made the raise much bigger because it was a very wet board and his hand is most likely good vs our hands, esp. when I don't raise the turn. The bad player's call of $600 more is very meh w/ bp + fd w/ me right behind. I have to call once he calls though. River ep's check is fine, bad player's bet of $1500 is fine, my fold is solid, and ep's c/r all in is horrendous. Other than that, the hands were played fine.

So I lost $1100 on that hand when I would've lost only $200 most times...I was going to check back the turn Jack. I ended up losing $4500 in the game and called it quits at midnight even though the game was still swinging. Phelps never made it to my game, I guess it probably had something to do w/ owning 14 gold medals, being young and good looking, and being in Las Vegas on a Saturday night. For me I had church early then NFL all day the next day. I had something to tell God the next day at church for not bringing a diamond on that hand.

I guess God must've heard because my fantasy football teams did well overall. I won a few thousand dollars in ff even though 2 of my 3 teams lost the hu matches (won $ in side bets).

I've resumed playing online poker though...well today anyway and won $4k. Maybe it's the other way around??...online is soft and live is tough.

October Results

I'm not sure what to think about last month's results. On one hand I ran above ev, but I won at a lower rate than I am accustomed to. On the other hand I'm finding less and less time to grind as the year wraps up. I played 39hrs online and another 10 hrs live. 1st my online results...


































Even though I only got in about 40k hands online, I experienced the swings of playing poker. I started the month off hot winning about $9k right off the bat, but right when I started thinking poker was easy it decided to teach me that it really isn't.

I made another $1680 in rakeback but lost $215 in mtts. I've been playing very few online mtts because of the NFL. I won another $3k playing live. I broke about even over 2 sessions in mix games at the Bellagio but won $500 playing $1-$2nl on my Arkansas trip (will post about my trip next time) and another $2500 playing $10-$20nl at the Bellagio. For the month I came out ahead $8,420.

W/ 2 months left I'm reflecting back on the year. I'm kind of in the middle on how I feel about my poker results. I'm way behind my pace of 7 figures but I've been saying I'm using that as more of a motivator to get me to play more (while working on my game) than anything else. I'm content w/ my hrly which stands around $300/hr. I'm disappointed in the hrs I put in though. I may need to get some coaching w/ Doublefly (who's excellent blog can be found on my blog roll) who excels at playing a good amount while balancing family life (heck I can't figure out where he finds the time to update his blog on a daily basis as well!!). I'm going to leave my $1mil goal as is because I'm planning on playing a couple of big live tournaments in the next 2 months that may get me over (obviously will need to run good but who knows).

I'm not complaining about what I've made though. Even though some make more than me (most by luckboxing a tournament and a few at cash games) I know that I'm fortunate to make as much as I do playing a simple game of cards. I'm not comparing poker to major sports but you see top notch athletes excelling and making lots of money but also knowing they're lucky to be in the position they're in. I feel the same way, even though I'm not implying I'm the best or anything (just good at what I do)...more about feeling lucky to be able to make the money I make doing what I enjoy doing, even if it feels tedious at times. I'm sure a lot of people would love to be in the position I am and I'm not taking that for granted. I hope some of the young guys that excel in poker feel the same way. It would definitely help prolong their careers if they thought the same way.

In other news I've been away for a couple of weeks visiting a friend in Arkansas but am now getting back into the grind of things. I've been playing a little more live which is kind of refreshing since I play mostly online. That's probably something I'll write about in the future, live vs online since I have plenty of hours in both. I live in Las Vegas so it's very convenient to go play live whenever I choose. Besides Los Angeles, Vegas is probably the best place to live for live poker.

I'm also fortunate in that my wife and kid love living in Vegas. Most don't realize that it's one of the fastest growing cities in America, and once you're away from the strip, it really is a normal city. As a poker player w/ a family I have the best of both worlds... a nice family oriented community where we live, and a quick 15 minute drive to the Vegas strip if I want to play some poker.

Yesterday probably exemplifies what I'm saying. My kid had the day off from school so she spent the day and night at a family friends' house. My wife and I decided to head to the Venetian to play some poker. I entered the $350 deepstack tournament (and promptly busted out in an hr) and my wife played some $2-$5 nl. I jumped into a $5-$10 nl game (and won $2600...live poker, gotta love it). I get a $10 food voucher for the tournament I played in and we eat at a nice chinese restaurant in the Venetian then decide to watch a late showing of "Jersey Boys" at the Palazzo which is right next door to the Venetian. "Jersey Boys" is a critically acclaimed Broadway like musical that centers around Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons of "Sherry" and "Walk like a Man" fame. Anyway the show was good even though the demographic of the crowd were people in their 50s and 60s which is understandable. So for the day I ended up winning $2250 in poker and got in a nice dinner and show w/ my wife at the end of it. Yeah, Vegas is cool.

The well; Also pwned by a machine in poker

Just wanted to say I'm doing a well at Cardrunners, which is basically a Q&A regarding my thoughts on poker and life. If any of you guys have questions regarding poker, or life as a poker player, feel free to go there and ask and I'll respond to all the questions. The link is

http://www.cardrunners.com/cr_forums/showthread.php?92311-The-Well-Nicolak&p=858134#post858134

This past week has been busy for me w/ the CR stuff and making my 1st video. I haven't had a chance to play much poker online but I did head over to the Bellagio and played some $40-$80 mix and won about $500 tonight. I forgot about the WPT main event going on at the Bellagio and wish I had remembered in time to sell some of my action so I could've played in it. I don't like forking over $10k of my money for 1 tournament. Anyway I'm going to try to sell some action in future main events in Las Vegas so I can give myself a shot to take down a major live tournament. I'll be posting in the 2+2 marketplace in the future for those and will blog about it if anybody out there wants to buy a piece. Gl to my buddies that made it to day 2 of the event.

Finally I was over at the Bellagio last night as well and played on these HU limit hold'em machines for real money.

http://www.slotmachinesforum.com/showthread.php?5792-Texas-Hold-em-Heads-Up-Poker-%28IGT

You play vs. the actual machine. There is no rake and the machine does not adjust or adapt. Also you can check it's hole cards once the pot is awarded. Pretty valuable info. to see how it's playing. Seems like free money for winning limit hold'em players and to an extent it is. The highest stake you can play is $2-$4 but the action is pretty fast, as fast as you want it to be. The machine, though inflexible in being able to adapt, is surprisingly pretty tough, capable of bluffraising on any street including the river. I'm sure this is about a tough of an ai that can be created to play limit hold'em hu.

W/ that said after awhile you can figure it's game out enough that you should not lose in the long run. Initially I was stuck $240, mostly from a bunch of suckouts, but once I got a read on it's tendencies, played almost a variance free style of poker where I won back $170 before I quit. I'm sure I would've gotten it all back but tbh is not worth my time to win my projected hrly in that game vs my hrly in my normal online games. That's why they capped it at $2-$4, because the great limit hold'em players won't think it's worthwhile to make the guaranteed money.

Now you may ask why they would even have it on the casino floor in the 1st place. I'm pretty sure lots of casual strollerbys get curious and play it and lose. It is placed right next to the poker room, and considering most poker players are losers, most will lose in this game, probably more than the small # of winning players win out of it.

Anyway I got pwned by the machine for $70, but my wife managed to crush it for $100. Also my buddy Joe T won $200 playing it right next to me. It helped expedite the learning curve by having all 3 of us playing next to each other talking about it's tendencies.

Finally I brought my ipad because I thought I may play some actual live cash and set it down next to the hu machine and forgot about it when we left. DOH! Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to have an honest guy take it so he can return it to me (or lost and found). I'm not sure what's more embarrassing though, getting pwned by a poker playing machine for $70, or being stupid enough to forget about my $800 ipad.

Sept. Results

Last month can be described as a month off than anything else. Some of that had to due w/ the start of football season but mostly it was due to sheer laziness. I'm always fighting my bouts of laziness and sometimes I lose those fights. As a poker player, this is probably my biggest leak (and only flaw?). One of the reasons I put off playing poker is because I feel like I can just play it anytime and win money anytime...maybe it's kind of arrogant but that's the mentality I have, and tbh is not a really good mentality. It might've developed over the years grinding millions of poker hands. At 1st poker was exciting and a fun way to make money, now it seems more like a job, and most of us play poker to avoid the dullness of most jobs. Don't get me wrong though, I know I'm in a very enviable position today and I'm thankful for everything poker was able to provide for my family and myself. Anyway I put in a tad under 40 hrs grinding cash games and ended up around $7500 + $1189 rb. Also I lost $865 in tournaments.














I elected to leave out my limit results because they skew the nl results. Limit winrates are typically lower than nl and pl winrates. Also nearly all my limit action was in omaha hilo so my nonsd winnings looks bad in that game but that's by design of the game. Players end up chasing draws one way or another (or both ways) and don't get there and have to fold for 1 more bet at the river. It happens more often in that game than any other game. Therefore I elected to filter out my om8 results out of my graph as well. Anyway I lost about $700 in the limit games.




















Also I ran slightly above ev but notice that I ran pretty bad in plo, thanks to these 2 hands....

Full Tilt, $3/$6 PL Omaha Cash Game, 6 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: $748

CO: $558

BTN: $1,200

SB: $835.75

Hero (BB): $1,200

UTG: $1,942.30

Pre-Flop: 5 A 3 A dealt to Hero (BB)

3 folds, BTN raises to $21, SB folds, Hero raises to $66, BTN calls $45

Flop: ($135) Q 4 2 (2 Players)

Hero bets $110, BTN raises to $465, Hero raises to $1,134 and is All-In, BTN calls $669 and is All-In

Turn: ($2,403) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($2,403) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $2,403 Pot ($3 Rake)

BTN showed 3 7 4 5 and WON $2,400 (+$1,200 NET)

Hero showed 5 A 3 A and LOST (-$1,194 NET)

That hand occurred during a mix game session. We were both 200bbs deep and when we got it in on the flop I was a 55-27 fav (w/ 18% chance of splitting). Now the next hand needs no description...

Full Tilt, $2/$4 PL Omaha Cash Game, 6 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $865.40

UTG: $1,185.15

MP: $2,106.65

CO: $766

Hero (BTN): $400

SB: $672.80

Pre-Flop: 6 Q J J dealt to Hero (BTN)

UTG calls $4, MP folds, CO calls $4, Hero calls $4, SB calls $2, BB checks

Flop: ($24.50) J 2 T (5 Players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, CO checks, Hero bets $23, SB raises to $78, 2 folds, CO calls $78, Hero raises to $336.50, SB raises to $668.05 and is All-In, CO folds, Hero calls $58.75 and is All-In

Turn: ($893) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($893) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $893 Pot

Hero showed 6 Q J J and LOST (-$400 NET)

SB showed T 4 K T and WON $1,162.80 (+$764.80 NET)


Those beats are about as bad as they get in plo but I really can't complain because I ran above ev for the month. Speaking of running good, I'm off to a decent start this month...




















I'm leaving for a trip on the 20th of this month to visit a friend in Arkansas for a week so I'm trying to get in some time playing poker before then.

Also I went to play live for a change the other night w/ my wife. We went to Aria and all I had besides a few hundred dollars were Bellagio flags ($5,000 chips). Now knowing that Aria and Bellagio are both part of MGM Mirage, I assumed they would cash the chips for me. Well since I'm not a regular at any of those poker rooms, they would not cash the chips. One of the managers would have to know me in either room to let me cash the chips at Aria. I guess it's for security reasons, protecting against money laundering or whatever.

Anyway I wasn't too happy because I wanted to play in a $5-$10 game w/ a $3000 cap which I heard was juicy when it ran. $3000 seems like the perfect buyin cap because it's plenty of money to play deep w/ while encouraging some action. Believe it or not but when a game is uncapped (buyin any amount you want) sometimes the game plays tight w/ the deep stacks just waiting for the nuts before they commit their stacks. W/ 300bbs, some guys will get in their whole stacks w/ less than the nuts which opens up the game a lot more, which in turn makes it more fun, for me anyways.

So we had to go to Bellagio, which is a short drive from Aria, and I ended up playing some $10-$20 nl (uncapped) and won $800. The game was average w/ a bunch of Vegas regs in the game. I brought my ipad to kill time between hands because I am, after all, used to seeing 30x # hands/hr (advice: do not do like I do...it's best to pay attention to everything when you're not in a hand because that's the best time to see everything that's going on and to get reads on other players). The only interesting hand of note is epr opens to $80 (w/ $1k behind), sb calls, I call (w $6k behind) w A7s from bb, flop Q93 w 2 to my suit, chk, chk, preflop raiser bets $200, sb folds, I shove ($800 more to my opponent), he snapcalls, turn A, riv 7. Now unlike online our hands are still face down so I'm just hoping he doesn't have AQ or a set. He says "set", I think damn that sucks, he opens and shows KT of same suit for a whiffed flush and straight draw. Now he was on the other end of the table and I guess I misheard and he must've said "sh*t" which sounded like "set" to me, maybe because that was the only word I didn't want to hear coming out of his mouth.

I played a little bit longer, talked w/ Jimmy "GobboBoy" Fricke who sat on my right for a little bit, and took my win and spent a nice night on the town w/ my wife. We ended up watching "A Social Network", which is about the founder of Facebook, and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.