Sunday, June 6, 2010

Pursuit to $10,000 (6 Jun 2010)

Played 4 sessions of 1-2 NL and it was one of those weeks where I know I played well, but I was cold decked so badly that ended up being a losing week. In two keys hands I lost my entire buy in.

Hand 1: Aliante Station..

I only played at Aliante because my wife was playing the bounty tournament, and I was bored sitting in the sports book, so I bought in their 1-2 game. Unlike their sister properties that offer 1-2 NL (Santa Fe, Red Rock, and Green Valley) that I’ve played in which are normally pretty tough, the Aliante NL is actually pretty good game probably cause the game gets a lot of the bounty tournament players chasing their buy ins. The game I was in was typical passive preflop and post flop. The players won’t call big bets unless they have the nuts, but are willing to chase their draws all the way to the river. Because of the passiveness, you can easily manipulate the pot by betting small on your draws. If they have a hand, they’ll tell you right away, but at the same time, they fold if they hit nothing…even a small bet like 5 or 10 bucks.

So I raise in first position with Pocket 10 to 7 bucks. I have no problem making baby raises out of position…I get called in 4 sports. One with 200 who just rebought and another with over 300. I had 225...Big blind called as well. Flop comes 10 K 4 with two spades. I bet 15...called by two players…Big blind folds..river is 7 hearts, which also puts two hearts on the board….I bet 30...Thi s is the only mistake I think I made…I probably should have bet more, but I never afraid of people out drawing me. I’m willing to bet enough to call trying to maximize the pot….The first races all in…the second players calls….Of course I move all in….second guy calls….River is a 9 looks innocent enough. First guy turns over K7 for two pair..second guy had 86 spades and rivers a STRAIGH’T!!!! BUSTO!!!! Thinking it over later, I think I was destined to lose my entire stack cause I don’t think the 86 spades” player would fold to any bet . NICE HAND, and I head back to the sports book!

HAND 2: Planet Hollywood.


This is hand was just a “COOLER”!!. There’s a straddle…it’s folded to me in the small blind, I have 160 in front and complete with 10 9 offsuit. Big blind completes…We take the flop 3-handed…flop comes Q J 8 with two spades!! BINGO!! FLOPPED THE NUTS! I decided to bet the flop…I bet 10...In coordinated boards like that I bet the flop 85 percent of the time. The only way I check is if the players are extremely aggressive. In this case, neither player were aggressive…..The straddler is the only caller….River is a 6 hearts. I bet 20...Staddler raises to 60. With only 130 behind, I was sure he had two pair and was 100 percent sure he would call an all in…so I go all in…he instant calls…I show my straight…Straddler has Pocket 8’s for a flopped set!!..I play for the board not to pairs….6 on the river..board pairs…BUSTO AGAIN!! CHIPS!!!!!


In those two hands I lost 400 bucks, and although I had a great session at Rio (doubling my buy in) and Planet Hollywood (Pre Cooler hand)…I ended up a net loss..Overall I was happy with my play, but sometimes the deck goes extremely cold, but when you get knocked down, you have to dust yourself fall and go at it again. I’m looking to play cash games at least twice this week. Hopefully. I won’t be cold decked…I have to play my game and the money will come


PURSUIT TO $10,000: +$99