Thursday, July 27, 2006

Deep NL Borgata 500 Hand

Second session, first orbit, BB and UTG are Asian players with a lot of checks.Hero gets dealt AKo in MP. 2 limps to him, he raises to $25. Folded around, BB calls, UTG calls.
Flop comes A44. check, check, Hero bets $50, UTG raises to $100, folded, Hero calls. Thoughts?Turn is a 9o.
UTG insta-shoves, has Hero covered by 800.What would you do. You have no read other than what I've described. I called.

UTG Villain shows J4 sooooted for the winner. No 2-outer for me. Rebuy!
After rebuying, I was down another 200 to my last 180 [I was too lazy to get more cash and 380 was fine for this table, so down about 600 on the day. [won $100 at other table previously]

Haven't seen a hand in hours. See KJs on button, EP raises 15, Asian MP calls, I call. Yeah, I know. Flop comes AKJ 2-suited. Well, I'm certain no one has QT. EP bets 30, MP folds, I call intending to raise turn if no Q or T shows. Also hoping for FH, obviously. Turn is a brick, EP bets, I raise all-in, he insta-calls my last 130.With A9!
I like pokah, pokah's nice! So I double up. [No, he doesn't call this if I have 400 behind, he was bad, but not an idiot.]

He likely thought I was steaming after the J4s hand and then subsequent losses. 2 hands later I am in MP with my $370 or so. Get red AA. First pocket pair above 99 all day in several hours and 3 tables of playing. And the must-move table was 5-7 players for a long time. My brain is seized by a sudden attack of FPS, so I limp.
Stupid, stupid, I thought CO/Button would *surely* raise, but no. 5 players to flop.Flop comes AQ7 2-suited. I play g00t.
Checked to me, I check earlier Asian MP in Button, he bets $20, I call [why rush with a crippled deck?] BB calls, others fold. Turn is a brick. BB checks, I check, reading Villain as aggressive + decent hand, he bets $60, BB folds, I do my best DeNiro, staring at the board for 5 seconds, looking back at him, staring at board and then BB, finally call.

River is a T, no flush, I think for 10 seconds [new tell-neutralizing technique I use on the river] and shove. Villain debates for about 5 seconds, evaluating whether or not I am bluffing on a busted draw and figuring I can't have KJ again.
He calls, I flip, he mucks, MHIG. I like pokah. Down $60 on Thursday session total. Then we hit the craps table for some real gambling.

Short Trip to AC last month

Lost about 250 in my first 3 hands where I actually had cards - QQ, KK, etc and got bad beat, twice by super-drunk guy on my left, once he cold-called a pf raise and flop raise with 64o, and rivered a straight on me.Argh.

Go upstairs, play craps at 7pm, win $615, come back down at 7:20. Drunk guy was carried out by multiple security guards in my absence.

Finally have good hands hold up, stack the best player at the table with a perfectly hidden straight, win $312, drive home.

My only conclusion is that craps is the greatest game ever.

Casino Barcelona

Barca's come a long way since Y2K. Big, good changes. Cleaner, friendlier, more expensive, better bars/food, [which were good already] and now Casinos!Well, one, anyway. But on the beach!So, Casino Barcelona it is. Free entry due to deal with my hotel. Laborious process of waiting in line and filling out forms to go in. Yes. That's okay, I had already hit the bars for a few hours.[They also now have slot parlors, which are nice and cool during the day if you play, I don't. But dark and cool and serve drinks. Try the orxada.]Sadly, no craps. Shoot.6 Poker tables. I wonder if Carlos ever plays here. I just missed the EPT event or some such there by a few weeks. It's late on a Tue nite [they are open until 5 am] so there are only 3 tables going. PLO 5/10, PLO 10/20, Limit HE 20/40. There is no list for lower limit or NL currently. Crap.I certainly don't have the roll for 20/40 HE. And I refuse to play Limit on vacation. I'd rather watch paint dry. Of course, I don't play Omaha. Maybe a 5-8 times, total. And I don't have the roll for 10/20 PLO, or 5/10 for that matter.These guys playing at 2 am on a Tuesday look like pros. Plus I've been drinking. Time to go play roulette, I guess...So, obviously I sat down at the PLO 5/10 table. I bought in for so much less than people had it was obvious I was a tourist or a very, very sharp cardshark. My English probably tipped them off as to which.Played a few hands, folded a few pots to flop or turn raises. Eventually got dealt A2hAxs. That looks like a good hand. Bet, I raise, called.Flop comes Ac3h4h. Rapidly thinking back to my Ciaffone Omaha book, is this a good hand, is this a good hand. I think it's a good hand. Did I mention I had been drinking?Needless to say, with several nut draws I am not folding and all my money goes into the pot [not much] so I win. Yay.Climb out of my seat 2 G&Ts and a few hands later. Down 70 Euros, a solid victory for me. If only I had been properly rolled....