The Good and The Bad.
December 2nd, 2008Played a quick session at the Venetian today. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s a thin line between being a winner and a loser. I was pretty proud of my play on one hand, in that I would not have played it as well a while back, and pretty disappointed in another. I’ll take them chronologically.
I sit down and fold for a couple orbits. I play a pot with 88, with the 8s on a T96 all spade board, but end up folding the turn when the ten pairs. So, I’m down a bit. I raise to 10 on one hand, and take the blinds, which makes sense since I’ve been playing tight and the table isn’t crazy. On the very next hand, I have 33 and raise to 10 again. Only the big blind calls. Flop is Q52 rainbow, he checks, I c-bet 20, he tanks and then pushes all-in. It’s 60 more to me. I can barely beat a bluff and don’t have any reason to think this guy is bluffing. I call anyways, he shows me TT, and now I’m really stuck. What a dumb call. There is just no reason to call there.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way….
I tread water for awhile. I win a few pots, chop a couple with KQ on Q high boards, get KK and QQ cracked, and basically just sit there waiting. Then, the good. I’m in the BB. UTG limps. A fold and then the guy in MP raises to 7. It’s a silly raise, but he had been raising about 20% of his hands. And, btw, he was fairly easy to read. He didn’t raise anything but pairs and big cards. He got married to hands. He had been down to 50 and over 400 twice since I sat down. And, he was wearing an Ocean Pacific shirt, so that’s cool. Ok, so OP raises to 7 and I look at the deuce of spades. A couple calls, and I decide that I’m only calling if I see another deuce or the Ace of Spades. While Mimi in the SB is calling, I peel the other deuce. Ok, I call, too. UTG smooth calls, and I joke that he should have pushed, which he admits considering. Flop AJ2 rainbow. Wheeeeee. Mimi checks, I check, utg checks, OP bets 12 and there are two calls to me. We had seen the flop 7 ways. Now, the old me check/raises here. But, I think I lose some action, and maybe all action if I do that. What am I scared of? I call the 12 and so does utg. So, we see the K on the turn five ways. I already know that there’s about 100 in the pot, so I bet 50. Wow. What a great bet. I can still get away depending on who and how someone raises me. But, I also get value from all kinds of hands that are drawing thin. utg folds, OP calls, button calls, and Mimi folds. Button, btw, is a dumbass. Middle-aged guy (only about 8 years older than me; fucking shit I’m old) who complains about losing with good hands and bad hands, which is usually a pretty good sign that you misplay all hands, you dumby. Anyways, 9 on the river doesn’t change anything. I think I would have heard from a bigger set or QT on the turn, and pocket 99 doesn’t make sense for either at this point. But, I think I’m getting called in at least one spot, so I push. 162 more. OP makes a face and calls. Button talks about making a big laydown - I’m guessing like AT, but maybe AQ - not really a big laydown. I show my set and OP shows his AJ. I go home soon thereafter, a winner, although not as much as I could have been due to my own stupidity.