Trying to wipe the dust off...

I finally got to get a session in and it has been a while. I sat at a 1-2 NL game this past Wednesday night and settled in for a show. The big stacks had about $800 a piece and at one point they got involved and the Irish fella lost about 3/4 of his stack he eventually got felted and the other big stack took his winnings and left, kudos!

Well the Irish fella starts raising from every position, classic post beat maniac play, he is winning with the worst hands, 5-2 and makes a wheel, 6-3 hits a river gut shot for a straight and he continued to push at people left and right, he even got me later as I made two pair on the turn and being out of position I wanted someone to bet but alas it did not work out and he caught the straight on the river. The funny thing is when I bet $15 and he raises it $45 more, why call? Only if you can beat the bluff, it was checked down TWICE not once TWICE, the flop and the turn and the river puts a straight out there. I watch as he practically embraces the table has his body weight forward and will not look at me, I ask, you got the 5-6, I want to see if I am right, and call, he says, with his accent, you called it correctly as he tables the 5-6 off. Well eventually, two hours later he busts me with the 10-4 spades, from the big blind he made it $10 to go, I had K-10 off and in the hi jack seat, three had limped before me and the button had limped, everyone called the flop was 2-3-10, two spades, Irish bets, asian guy calls, fold to me I raise another $35 on top and Irish and Asian call. The turn is a spade, Irish pushes in $100 plus, Asian contemplates and I say to myself right here...if he calls I fold and if he folds I just may call. Well Asian folded and I say to Irish, you are a lunchbox...but damnit he is leaning in again, SHYTE! does he really have the flush! Well I push in and the river is a blank. He tables that hand I smile and walk away. Gosh, gotta get the dust off, had the read but could not follow through! UGH ARGH UHHHHH!!! Until next time...


Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Here Comes the PAIN TRAIN!!!!

LOL! Remember those commercials with the office linebacker that reebok used to air? I just watched most of them on youtube and they are freaking hilarious! So the other night as I was playing in Harrah's, two Fridays ago, I got to say one of my favriote lines, let me tell you how I got to this point.

I sit down at a 1-2 NL game and I see some of the regulars, I sit there for about 20 minutes and I don't catch anything, now remember if you had read any of my earlier blogs one of the many bad things about Harrah's is how slow, utterly slow many of the dealers are, I mean if you can get 15 hands out a down you may make a dollar a hand and at that rate you could average $30 an hour, nah, not these folks, they average about 10 hands a down! Ugh! Alright, 20 minutes and I have not played the small blind yet. Well the next dealer comes in and I get two good hands in a row and I get paid off, I am now up $100. My next hand is J-2 off, I am in the cutt off seat and there are five limpers into me, I decide to make it $17, I get two callers...why? Because they do not believe I can have three hands in a row and/or I may be stealing from this position. Well the flop is repungnant for them, J-2-2. They check as well as I, the turn is an K and it puts a flush draw out there, there is a bet into me and I call the other person folds, the river is a three and completes the flush. This is exciting, but the read I get from the guy in the 10 seat, now mind you I am in the one seat and you can see the excitment in his body language, he bets big, I believe it was like $45. I raise another $100, he goes all in for another $30 or so, I say this as I call the $30, "Here comes the pain train." He shows the flush I show my J-2, he is not happy. I played like a lunch box and got there, the thing was, and this is really not a good excuse, I raised. LOL!

Want to make a few hundred in a 1-2 NL game, come to Harrahs geez! They really do watch the WSOP re-runs and try to re-enact what they saw...it is awesome! Alright, if you pay a lunchbox off in the future...NO WORRIES, it will come back!

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

1-2 Action is so nice, 10-25 game...

So I made my way over to Harrah's this past Friday afternoon, which will probably be my last day time session during the week, and had a blast. I, of course, played well and got my first buy in spread out to the many lunchboxes at the table. Oh so exciting, I pull out my next two bills and go to work, I get my other two back during one down, I proceed to get another two hundred in the next two downs. So now I am sitting on about $650, I'm ready to go, I got my buy ins back and have an uptick of $250, sayanora. Here is the make of the table though, seat one is empty at hour four, seat two is a young asian girl who is a level one, verging on level two player. Seat three is a level two guy verging on being a level three guy, I say this because he bet his two pair into three players from early position when the flush hit. Seat four is a lunchbox, who had $600 in front of him, and now has $120 in front of him. Seat five a lunch box, seat six empty, seat seven lunchbox, seat eight level three player, Mr. Nick, seat nine a lunchbox, oh yeah, that's me, and seat ten a lunchbox.

Well as I was saying I am ready to go, so I run to the bathroom and get back, now on my way I say if I miss the blinds, we roll, if I get back on time, play through the down to the next and see what happens, this table is primed. Well, I get back and I am under the gun and I look at wired jacks, I make it 17 to go, I get four callers behind me FOUR!!! Seat 10, Seat four, seat five and seat eight. The flop, J 9 7 two diamonds, well I will not slow play this hand with four callers, and a diamond and straight draw on the board. I bet out $65, I get two callers, seat 10 and four. The turn is a 4 clubs, I bet $125, seat ten insta-calls, seat four ughs to himself and folds. Seat ten INSTA CALLED what the hell, does he have a set also, maybe two pair, COULD HE HAVE CALLED MY RAISE FROM UNDER THE GUN WITH 8-10? Does he put me on a bluff? I did show some earlier but the pot did not get this big! After that turn bet he has about $350 left and I have him covered. The river is a four of hearts, I am very happy but I want to make sure I get something so I value bet, $150 and the ten seat goes ALL IN!!! OH SHYTE, do you have quads? I get up and move away from the table as I ask the dealer to count down what I owe if I decide to call, about $155 more the dealer says...this is the fun part. I sit in my chair and I say to him, did you hit quads, he responds, why you got a full house, I say yep, he goes ugh, under his breath and I say CALL! Here is why the 1-2 game is so nice, he tables the 8-10 not suited, that is right not suited! He flopped the nuts and tried to let me bet it out, he called my raise with 8-10 not suited!!!! I take down a lovely pot, proceed to give the table back a few hundred and get up frustrated and leave a big winner, that story is for another day.

As I leave I look over to the ten and a quarter no limit game and see all the money in play, and I do not mean on the table, I know eight of the nine guys at the table, I mean these guys will get up and shoot the shit with me kinda guys, these guys have so much money that this game is the only reason why the show up at Harrahs anymore. I than look at what they had on the table, there was over $120,000 on that table, let me tell you something three of those guys keep that game feed. So if you are ever in Harrahs at about 6 pm ask about the 10-25 no limit game and check it out, they move some money and one of the three that I spoke about will move at you with air when you have the nuts and you would think that he had the nuts...SO CRAZY! Alright I have rambled on long enough!

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

9 4 hearts!!!!

As you know when you go to play you have to go in with a game plan. If you are at a table of unknowns, tight aggressive....do not try to outplay if you raise with AK and get four callers and the flop is a bunch of babies, check and fold. Such as that. Well I headed to Biloxi this past Friday, Oct 12th and sat down at a new game with my bud AT@T, yes his initials do spell this out, I got my first buy in taken due to playing 75clubs from the button and getting a raise and re-raise pre-flop from a couple of lunch boxes and I put them on a large pair a piece, I hit the flop with an open ended straight but was ready to release, but they kept me in there with a $25 bet into $75 in the middle, and the re-raiser just called so...I called, I picked up a flush draw, as the board paired on the turn, this is where the money got in and I missed, pocket kings took it away from pocket queens, who was the raiser. Well I get another $200 in and I lost that, I get another $200 in and I build it up to $600 and I continue to play very good poker. I build up to about $500 and am sitting pretty, I do not have to get involved unless I have a great hand. Well, I look down at 9-4 hearts under the gun, the devil on my shoulder said to raise, and if we hit they will never know! I listened and got four callers! Well the flop is Q 9 4 rainbow! Wow! I bet out, $50, making it look like I hit the queen, or to a good player this looks like a continuation bet to get people out of the pot. I had raised to $15 pre-flop, I get two callers. The turn is a 7 off, no flush possibilities, I bet $100, I get one caller, a lady who has played like a lunchbox. The river is a deuce, she is out of position and pushes all in for $115, I smile and look at the board and go, "you have two pair?" she smiles WIDE, big tell, and says, "my money is in there." I should fold but the value is there to call, I believe I am beat and I should fold, I am putting her on Q 2, seriously...I SHOULD FOLD!!!! I do not, I call and she turns over Q 9 off and takes it down. I am a lunchbox!!!!

Why play the 9 4 hearts? Why try to out play them with this hand!!!!! It was bad! I try to judge my sessions by how much I win, this time, I did leave winning but I had a bad session, I ended up play bad hands out of position and did not get away from hands I knew I was losing in but became a pay off wizard!

The point is, just because you are up, do not change what got you there!

Why do we drop our focus so? Somebody help!!!!

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Twenty Four...

I made my way into Harrah's this past Monday evening at about 3:30 pm and sat down at a juicy 2-5 NL game. I bought in for four hundred and on my second hand I look down at KQ off under the gun and raise it to $20. I proceed to get four callers. The flop is 10c Jh 9c...flopped the nuts, but I do not like the flush draw, I bet out $90 dollars hopping to make the price not right. The next guy pushes in four hundred, I don't like it but at the same time this is what I want. Everyone folds to me and I call. The turn is a red deuce and the river is a red QUEEN. He turns up the AcKc. I loved his action and he actually got lucky on many people the rest of the night. I just don't understand why he would want to push his draw, the nut draw, into three remaining players. I do not understand why you would want to scare that money out in that spot, I understand he had the nut gut shot straight draw and the nut flush draw, many outs, was he scarred that I had hit a set, did he not see that maybe someone already had a made hand, why get all that other money out? His play to me was not the best in my opinion but it worked out and I was felted in the end. I buy in two more times and eventually move down to the 1-2 game because the money has moved to locked up spots or they were smart enough and eventually left. Oh yeah, the guy who felted me after five more hours of play, left with what he bought in for, about $500.

I proceeded to tear into the 1-2 nl game, I build up to $800 and am sitting there picking great spots and making excellent reads. I build up to $1200 and run into a little asian guy who gets me to call his nut flush on the turn after I had flopped top two with KJ. I even went over the top on the river and called his value raise, I was back down to $800. This play happened after about 20 hours of play. I get to about hour 24 and I am at about $1300 and I know that I can not continue, I rack up and leave.

In the 1-2 game I was able to play much more patient because I was not dwelling on the fact that I could get felted in one hand. I know how to get away from hands unless I get that luchbox feeling. I have enjoyed success in the 2-5 NL game but there are times that I or you should realize that stepping down can be easier on your bankroll but more importantly on your mental game.

I look to make another move this Friday, so more to report at that time.

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

The SUCK OUT!

I headed over to Harrahs friday afternoon and started my day at about noon, at 2:30 pm I am walking out of there down several hundred and shaking my head in shame. I head home recoup and get back over to Harrahs where I meet big Bill at about 6:30 pm. We are at the same table together and I watch as Bill beats the table up and two hours later he walks out, uptick several buy ins! NICE JOB BILL! I however, grinded away and lost my first buy in, I rebought asked for a table change and moved over to a table by the rails. I sit next to this guy with a fult tilt hat and sunglasses, thinking nothing of him. I observe all the stacks at the table and see that some of the folks must have gotten lucky. The guy next to me has way about him but again, I blow it off. About six hands in I pick up AK off, I make it $15 to go and proceed to get four callers. I am in the high jack seat, two off from the button. I have position. The flop is Ac 2d 8d, check around to me and I bet $40, they fold around to full tilt, who stops and thinks about it, he looks at me and asks how much to I have left, I count out my money and he sees that he has me covered. I immediately put him on a range of hands, deuces, fours, diamond draw, A2 A8, Ace weaker than me. He goes, I am all in...I again run through the range and take him off of the sets, because I do not think he put me on a diamond draw. I did not put him on two pair so it must be weaker Ace...I called, the board paired the 8 and the river brought the queen of diamonds. I for some reason knew I was beat. He turns his hand over and says, "Did I suck out on you?" as he tables the AQ off. I muck my hand and take a long walk. My only reason for being upset is that I got felted again. I do not think that his play was bad, I actually might have gotten the wrong odds to make that all in call, but I felt that I had the best hand and that was the only reason why I called, and I was right untill the river.

I get back in a game three hours later, sit next to this guy again at a different table and we talk, and he talks about the suck out, I explain that it happens and that it was not a bad beat but a bad way to lose was all. This was an interesting way to meet one of my fellow bloggers, the Virge, I learned this fact later during the wee hours after making all of my money back and upticking several hundred more that he was who he was. We had a blast cutting this table up, as I was the chip leader and he was running a close second. It was fun and I hope to sit with him at future tables.

Alright, thats all for now, stay nice as rice and mello as jello!

Biloxi...SO NICE!

I made it to Biloxi and played in one of the 7 pm tourneys and played in the JUICY 1-2 no limit games! My goodness, if you were not there you would not believe the action that was on the table. In the 1-2 games you had guys who would push just to push because it was not there limit, I had 5-10 players who bought in for $1000 at a time who lost over $3000, it was so nice!

Let me tell you about my 7 pm tourney experience, now I am more of a cash game player and I do well in tournaments not as well as my fellow bloggers but they know I have skills, they just need to be sharpened. Well I am sitting well with about 2500 on the second level of play where the blinds are now 25-50, I am two from under the gun and look down at A Q off, I fire a standard raise of 150, folds around to the small blind, a lovely gal who has not played a hand yet, other than her big blind. The flop is a rainbow with a Q, she checks I check, ( I put her on AK, AJ, medium pair at this point). The turn is a brick, she checks I bet 300 she calls,(oh yes, she's chasing!) the river is another brick, she checks again, I obligate and bet 1100 (please just call, if you just call...I WIN!), she calls, I table my A Q,(with a huge smile on my face) she shows pocket kings!(The smile disappears) This is how good I am, I bet for the best hand. These are the players that I run into, I never knew where she was, my read was way off and she gave me no reason to feel that I was in trouble. If she did this on purpose GREAT JOB, but I do not think that is what happened. I believe she was willing to check it all the way down, my only reason for that is because the river did not help anyone and with a hand like that a check raise would have been a bit more correct that a check call. I eventually got busted by a lunchbox. That simple hand told me that poker, especially No LImit hold'em will be here for some time, and the bad players will never dry up. I love Poker! More on my cash games later.

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!