BOUNCING BACK AFTER A BAD SESSION (Mirage and Planet Hollywood)

It's alot easier to notice when your playing badly and losing than playing good and winning...When you're playing bad and losing....you see alot of the image above..Lots of FELT and not ENOUGH CHIPS or none at all..

My Friday session at the Mirage was a disaster from the very start...I opened a new game and lost $200 without completing an orbit. Not sure why I lost, all I know I played badly...REALLY BADLY!!! Here's how I lost the majority of my chips...I limped after 2 limpers with 6-2 offsuit...MISTAKE #1....Blinds check..Flop comes 4-3-2...So I flop a pair and gutshot straight draw. Big blind lets for $15...One caller...I also call...Everyone else folds....3 to the turn which brings a 3. Both opponents checks to me...I fire $30..MISTAKE #2...Big blind check raise all in for another $95....Third player folds..Its ups to me. I ask for a count...Of course, I should have mucked my hand long ago...but I had my stupid-hat home...I was just being a donk sitting there as I shoved the $95 needed for the call in the middle...MISTAKE #3 (Not the obscure Culture Club song...lol)...I don't get the miracle river card...My opponent turns over a 5-6 for a nut straight and just like that I'm down $200....

So I spend the rest of the session trying to catch up....which was working out as I settled down, played solid poker and after a couple of hours, I was only stuck $75....Then disaster struck again.....I limp on the button behind another limper with 7-4 clubs...Four to the flop which comes Q Q 9 two clubs...Checked to me..I bet $10...Folded to the limper (A middle-aged, who was just pissed she lost a huge pot as soon as she sat down)...who calls...Turn is a 3....The lady meekly bets out $10...This was an odd bet...In situations like this, in my experience..someone who check-calls a flop bet then leads the turn small is a sign of weakness...maybe she had a flush draw...I decided to see if my read was right...I cut-off $50 chips and put in a raise, hoping she had a flush draw and shrivel to the pressure..LOL!! She hesitated...then reached for a big stack of chips and raised another $125....OOPS!!!! I asked if she filled up (Slang for full house), knowing all along I was going to fold...The lady nodded...I said, "Nice hand" and quietly mucked my 7-high flush draw...She flips over Q-9 for a flopped boat.. 

After that hand I decided, enough was enough...I cashed out down $200, licked my wounds, but still had money to fight another day...which turned out to be this past Monday....

Took an Early Out from work and walked next door for a session at Planet Hollywood...Planet Hollywood used to be one of my favorite poker rooms until Ceasars Entertainment took it over...Even though it's a separate poker room it's run the same way as Ballys, so sometimes some of the Ballys' regular players play at Planet Hollywood and vice versa. So I cut my playing time there significantly, because of my personal preference of  not "Playing with the customers" Today was different as my laziness to drive to another poker room made my decision to play at PH easier..

Before I sat down, I decided to tighten up my game after taking a beaten a few days before at Mirage. Not so much my post flop play, but I wanted to tighten up my preflop and stop playing junk hands that'll get me in trouble like 6-2 or 7-4...Post flop, I was still gonna play aggressively, but I wanted to better starting hand to fight my battles.

I opened a new game and instantly knew half of the table didn't have a fucking clue how to play...They were fumbling and mumbling their cards, their chips, their seats...lol!! They didn't know how to bet, acted out of turn...shitty amateur stuff!! Also they all bought in for the minimum....I decided the best way to approach this table is strictly A-B-C...no fancy plays...just get the hands...Bet them if I had...I wasn't going to stick a dime in the pot if I wasn't ahead, plus I would make them pay dearly for draws...

The plan worked to perfection...In two hours...despite the table having no chips, i manage to squeak a nice win! A welcome site after my disaster at the Mirage....Here's the most notable hand I played:

3 Limpers...I'm in the Big blind with 6-2 Suited..I check my option...Flop comes 8 6 6...Checked to me..I bet $10....Folded to one of the total amateurs at the table...who calls...Everyone else folds...turn is a 9...I bet $15...my opponent nearly string-raises me to $30...I call...River is a 2...I bet 50...he calls...I win with a full house...he had 10-7 for a straight...

The hand seems inconsequential, but it shows how to approach a hand against a player who doesn't seems to know what's going on!! When you play amateurs..you NEVER NEVER NEVER pull fancy moves against them, because unlike good players, players like this don't understand why you're making a "fancy" move..They look at their cards and the board..that's it!!! 

It felt good to have a bounce-back session at Planet Hollywood after playing awful at Mirage. I believe the Mirage session was an aberration, not indicative of how I truly play poker...On the other hand...I'm not an A-B-C type player as I was in Planet Hollywood..as I like to play a lot of hands and play post flop...but sometimes you have to adjust your game according to the table, the chips, and more importantly..your mindset....

JUST SHUT UP ALREADY -- My Weekend of Poker

It's been two weeks since I played poker...been a combination of not having enough free time and just not feeling it. One of the best attributes I've had as a gambler is I don't force my to gamble if I'm not feeling it, when I'm not motivated I usually don't play well...

On Friday, I felt strongly about playing poker...so I decided to get back to the grind...So here's my weekend..

FRIDAY -- FEB 10 2012 (CAESARS PALACE)

I hate playing at Caesars Palace...let me repeat again..I HATE PLAYING AT CAESARS PALACE! The room had a cold blooded warehouse feel to it...The players are typically uptight and never seemed to be having fun...A typical Caesars Palace poker room night is 10 tables with absolutely no table talk...all you hear is chips clattering and the occasional profanity.

My wife (who LOVES the room..I don't know why) was playing a tournament, so I decided to sweat my wife while I played 1-3 No Limit...I sat down with $300, and immediately noticed two middle-eastern men raising and straddling pots. The best thing about these type of aggressive games is you win can huge pots quickly because these type of players are "Action" Players willing to shove chips in the pot...the downside is the variances are insane...you can lose two buy-ins quickly or win just as much in the same amount of time

I won a couple of small pots right away and was able to build my stack to around $370 when this hand came up:

Button Straddle, and I'm in the Small Blind with AK...Since there was a pre-flop raise every hand, I decided to just call and if one of the aggressive players raises, I would come over the top. Of Course, if a Solid Player raises (and we had a couple at my table), I re-evaluate to see how the action develops before I make my decision...BB calls...another limper...then one of the solid players raises to $25..Middle eastern Gentlemen with $500 calls...folded around to me...I look over at the solid player's stack and see he has around $140 behind. Having AK out of position is a dicey situation post- flop. If rags flop, I don't know what to do with two players acting after me, with on being an aggressive player who has me covered. I decided to re-raise to $125. I did for two reasons: 1) to get the short stack to make a decisions for all his chips. 2) to try and get the aggressive player big stack out of my pot. The solid player goes all in...The middle eastern gentleman tanks for a minute, then folds his hand...The board runs out J-high, I show my AK...My opponent taps the felt and says, "AK is good" and shows AQ...The middle eastern gentleman smiles, "Nice hand...I had Pocket Jacks" His neighbor confirmed it...As I rake a nice pot, I give out a welcome sigh of relief that I was able to the best hand out of the pot...


FRIDAY NIGHT -- FEB 10, 2012 (ALIANTE STATION)

After my wife and I spend the night at Santa Fe Station, it was 10PM I was itching to play poker, but didn't want to drive to the Strip, so I decided to play at my local casino..ALIANTE STATION!! This is my absolute favorite casino in Vegas..it's beautiful, it has a wonderful atmosphere, and most importantly, it's two blocks from my house...

I had a roller coaster session...I was up right away...then lost around $200 when a gentleman goes all in on a flush draw..I call with an overpair...of course, he gets his flush...I was able to get my money back but it took 3 hours...and ended up with a 10 dollar profit...Hey, I'll take it!! A win is a win!!! LOL...but I wanted to bring something up that happened..

It has to do with his FUCKING PRICK........

I typically don't get mad at players who complain about hands, but if you want to get me on immediate tilt...Trash the Dealers...That's exactly what this fucking asshole did for about an hour...I'm very sensitive about players trashing dealers especially if they've done nothing wrong...Players like this asshole have nothing better to do than to say the worst things about dealers..Among other things this fucking jerkoff said:

1) I don't know about these dealers, I fold my hand on the line and they can't stretch to get my cards?? But when if I tip them here, they'll leave their seats to grab it..that's just pure laziness!

After awhile, I said, "You don't like dealers do ya?

He responded, "They don't work hard enough"

At this point I was really upset, but kept my composure, "I guess you're not inviting them to your next birthday part, huh?"

He didn't respond...

But what I really wanted to scream was "JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It was late and didn't want to cause a scene, but I hate it when players disrespect poker dealers thinking that our job is "easy". I want to give these assholes a deck of cards and have them deal to a table full of jerks who blame you when you lose a hand...

SUNDAY (BALLYS)

As many of you know I'm a poker dealer at Ballys...I went to work on Sunday and took an E.O (Early out) and wanted to play poker...I was too lazy to drive to a poker room, so I decided to play at Ballys.

I generally have a personal rule that I try not to play in the same room I deal...In my opinion, it's a conflict of interest...I don't like playing with "my" customers. I don't like playing against them, who help me pay my bills (By Tipping), and then taking their money...It fall under the moniker, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." 

Today was unusual as none of our regulars were playing, so I bend my own personal rule and play...Plus I we had a hard time starting the game, so I wanted to help out to at least get the game going..help the room.  

How did session go?? One word: INCREDIBLE!!!!

I won nearly $400 bucks playing Straight forward poker...it always helps that I was getting premium hands almost every other hand....AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ...Not only that...whenever i got these premium hands, my opponents had just enough to call me down...even calling when i made huge bets...It was one of those sessions where a Monkey could have made money with the cards I was getting (Not that I call myself a monkey...)

So I had a profitable 3 day-poker session...I'm telling ya, I've been running hot the past month and half. More importantly, I feel I'm playing incredible poker and feel I'm in a zone. I'm hoping I can sustain this a long time or least play well enough where when i do run into a bad session I can minimize my losses!!

Right now, Poker has been fun!! I'm enjoying every minute of it....

"THAT GUY HITS EVERYTHING!!!" Outstanding Session at Mirage followed by disaster at Red Rock

I arrived at Mirage in time to open a brand new game...I bought in for $300, and proceeded to play nearly every hand. The table was playing VERY PASSIVE!!! Very little pre-flop raising, followed by extremely weak post-flop play. If they didn't hit anything, they were folding on the flop. If they did hit anything, they would be betting wrong, so there were an abundance of spots where I could literally take the pot away with a raise. It was a dream scenario.  I decided early in my session, if it was cheap, I was going to play as many pots as possible and hope you take advantage of the weak post flop play. The result was one of my better session...

I can't tell you how many times my opponents would make small flop bet, and I would call with a gut-shot, bottom pair, overcards, and sometimes with nothing, then if they check the turn..I would bet 100%, and they fold like a cheap accordion....lol.

The best hand I played was actually a hand I lost:

Two limpers in front and I limped with Q10 offsuit. Blinds come along and we see the flop 5-handed...The dealer flops Q-7-7 rainbow. Everyone checks to me (As they did alot)...I fire $12...Everyone folds except this tight-old man who to my right, who hadn't played a hand since Bill Clinton was president, calls. I noticed he was holding his cards with two hands as if he wanted to make sure no one touched them...I looked at him quizzically as the dealer put up the turn card which was a Jack...He checks..I quickly check behind. The river card was another Jack, bring the final board to Q-7-7-J-J. The old man hesitates, peeks at his cards, and fires out $25 bucks...I let out slight giggle and tossed my cards into the muck...The old man quickly turns over pocket Q's for a full house, and angrily says, "How come you didn't call? This is the first hand I've had all day!!" I said "Nice hand" but in my mind I wanted to say, "Sir, you might as well been playing your hand face up."  

After 3 hours, and up a couple hundred bucks, scooped yet another pot, one of my players (Who I took advantage of many times) says, "This guy hits EVERYTHING!!" I smirked, and said, "I'm getting lucky"


That night, I made a regrettable decision because I was bored...I decided to play the 4-8 Omaha 8/Better game at Red Rock..

My initial plan was to play NL, but there was a seat open in the Omaha game and decided, what the hell, I'll try something different. I've actually played the Red Rock Omaha Game a couple of times before and I've never lost. HA HA HA HA Not tonight!!

I proceeded to drop nearly $200 bucks in less than two hours. I wasn't playing bad, but Omaha is one of the most frustrated forms of poker. You're always drawing to something whether its the high or low, so everyone is staying to the river! On this night, whenever I had the best hand...I would get destroyed on the river...If I was drawing to the nuts, I WOULD NEVER GET THERE!!

Then to make matters worse, I was playing with players like this...

Omaha Players are a different breed, because they're never happy..This lady in particular was complaining whether she won or lost a hand...and she would never muck her hand quietly...She would fling her cards at the dealer and bark smart-ass remarsk about how badly everyone was playing. And she wasn't friendly at all. She was sitting next to chatty guy and whenever he would talk to her, she would blatantly ignore him (As she was reading a romance novel, something she did when not involved in a hand.). She came across as just a crabby-old bitch who probably had a few broomsticks shoved up her ass!!

I had a slight run-in with her...I got involved in a huge pot with her and 3 other players where I had the nut-nut draw on the flop so I was pumping the pot...of course I didn't get there..This old bag ended up winning the pot, then proceeds to criticize about how I should be raising with A-2. I scoffed, "I had the nut-nut draw...If I hit my hand, I'm going to win a huge pot...I'll do it every time" The old bitch ignored, stacked her chips, then went back to her romance novel... After that hand, I left...I was pissed and felt a tilt coming along so it was best to get out of there...before I say something I would regret... 

So it was the best of times..it was the worst of times (to quote the great Charles Dickens). I wish I didn't go to Red Rock, but I did, got stacked, but I live to tell the story...

MISTAKES MISTAKES!!!!

I hate when I play bad!
I hate when I play scared.
But most of all, I hate making MISTAKES!!

Not all winning sessions are created equal. I'm going to be completely honest, I didn't play my best, even though I got the desired results. As a poker players, you're always looking to make the best decisions looking for the long-term result. Short term anyone can win, but if you don't make the right decisions, you'll be leaking money! In this blog, I'm gonna give you 2 examples of bad play from my poker session last Saturday at Venetian:

1) Big Stack of around $600 (Rather weak passive old man) at the table raises from early position to $10, it's folded to me and I hold 32 suited. My stack is over $300 and I fold. You may thinking, what's wrong with this play? Sounds standard to me? Let's look at this closely. I have $300 and the big stack, who is weak passive, raises..This is the perfect scenario to try and find a "double up" flop...Since the big stack raises in Early position, you have to put him on a big pair. If I call and I flop two pair, trips or maybe a straight, I could win a lot of money...You see, when the flop comes with a bunch of low cards, a typical weak passive player will never think you connected with a low-card flop. He probably would have bet, I'd raise, and most of time, he'll put a re-raise, and I have my chance to double up...On the other hand, if I completely miss the flop, I can quietly fold to any bet and no one will know I was sitting there with 3-high.

2) I open limped in middle position with pocket 2's...folded to the short-stacked big blind who raised to $12. The short stacked has 40 bucks after the raise...I'm the only caller...Flop comes J 9 2....Short stacked goes all in. Of course, I instant call with my set of dueces..My opponent has AA and doesn't catch up and I win...Again, where was my mistake...I don't think it's my open limp -- with my small pair I'm looking to see a flop as cheaply as possible. The mistake here was calling the raise from a short-stack. With only 40 bucks, it's not mathematically correct to call. The odds of flopping a set is 7.5 to 1...and my implied odds was only 3.6-1 with my opponents smallish stack of only 40...even if I flop a set (Which I did)....I wouldn't have won enough money to make it worth it in the long run.

No matter how good of a poker player you are, you ARE GOING TO MAKE MISTAKES!!! The key is not to make too many of them so they compound into something bigger.

I'll probably hit the poker rooms again this weekend, and I'm hoping I learn from my Venetian session to think through each hand and make the right decisions...