2021 Poker: Raising Covid with the nuts!

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Oh I’ve definitely been at Winstar and seen that happen at a 1/2 game when the security gets involved for some idiot who snakes chips from player next to them. It is pretty rare though. And stupid.

[TXSooner518 2438]

I saw someone get arrested at Winstar bc there was a tornado warning and they herded us all into the horse betting area and we got under desks and I guess someone left like a $50 stack on the table and the guy stole it. My understanding was it was going to be a felony bc of the gaming laws. Hope it was worth it dumbshit.

[CBT 1282]

I’ve caught a few people going south at my table, but I don’t think I’ve ever been at one where someone was caught stealing.

[pearlandhorn 3269]

Went to play poker at Top Shelf in Tyler last night. Was in town for a funeral.

Most interesting hand: I’m in cutoff and look down at 5s7s. $15 to go from UTG+1. Playing $1/$2. One caller before me. I call and the button makes it $45 to go. Everyone calls. I’ve got $450 in front of me. Flop Kc7d5h. Checks to button and he makes it $100. UTG folds, UTG+1 calls. I look at the buttons stack and he’s got about $190 left. I look at UTG+1 and he’s got around $350 left. 
 

Question: is this a shove by me? Because that’s what I did. I know pocket kings are definitely in his 3-bet range and thinking at the time if he has it, he’s just got me, plain and simple.  Button thinks about it for a minute saying “I should have made it more preflop...I can’t believe you flopped a set...” He ends up calling. UTG+1 ends up folding AK off (top top) saying “I can’t believe I’m folding this”. This is an easy fold for me if I’m in his position but I digress. Button rolls over Aces, we run it twice and I scoop.

Thinking back, if UTG+1 put in a 4-bet with AK off, I would have folded preflop and button would have shoved preflop.

Ive run pretty well the last few times I’ve been to that place. Games play super soft and is completely different than Houston poker.

[Lurch 5922]

I would not have called the initial $15, but I like the rest of the play. The question is if there is any way to get the rest of UTG1’s stack. If you had min raised, it sounds like he still may have talked himself into a fold, and you absolutely can’t just call. Shove seems to be optimal. Well played

[dirtonia 269]

Checkout this fish I played with in Austin last night. He’s moving here.

[dirtonia 269]

Went to play poker at Top Shelf in Tyler last night. Was in town for a funeral.
Most interesting hand: I’m in cutoff and look down at 5s7s. $15 to go from UTG+1. Playing $1/$2. One caller before me. I call and the button makes it $45 to go. Everyone calls. I’ve got $450 in front of me. Flop Kc7d5h. Checks to button and he makes it $100. UTG folds, UTG+1 calls. I look at the buttons stack and he’s got about $190 left. I look at UTG+1 and he’s got around $350 left. 
 
Question: is this a shove by me? Because that’s what I did. I know pocket kings are definitely in his 3-bet range and thinking at the time if he has it, he’s just got me, plain and simple.  Button thinks about it for a minute saying “I should have made it more preflop...I can’t believe you flopped a set...” He ends up calling. UTG+1 ends up folding AK off (top top) saying “I can’t believe I’m folding this”. This is an easy fold for me if I’m in his position but I digress. Button rolls over Aces, we run it twice and I scoop.
Thinking back, if UTG+1 put in a 4-bet with AK off, I would have folded preflop and button would have shoved preflop.
Ive run pretty well the last few times I’ve been to that place. Games play super soft and is completely different than Houston poker.

Fold pre.

AP, jam fo sure.

[workswithseed 2088]

8 hours ago, pearlandhorn said:

 Button rolls over Aces, we run it twice and I scoop.

 

I thought running it twice was high stakes poker thing and way out of range of 1/2.

Edited April 21, 2021 by workswithseed

[Lurch 5922]

Checkout this fish I played with in Austin last night. He’s moving here.

Sweet. He’d been talking about it the last few weeks

[Lurch 5922]

I thought running it twice was high stakes poker thing and way out of range of 1/2.

Generally tables where they collect time rather than rake per-hand, the casino doesn’t mind since it doesn’t impact them.

[pearlandhorn 3269]

1 hour ago, workswithseed said:

I thought running it twice was high stakes poker thing and way out of range of 1/2.

He asked to run it twice. I didn’t really care one way or the other.

[pearlandhorn 3269]

8 hours ago, Lurch said:

I would not have called the initial $15, but I like the rest of the play. The question is if there is any way to get the rest of UTG1’s stack. If you had min raised, it sounds like he still may have talked himself into a fold, and you absolutely can’t just call. Shove seems to be optimal. Well played

You wouldn’t have called initial raise...this one of those fold or 3bet hands then? Or would you simply fold?

Edited April 22, 2021 by pearlandhorn

[Lurch 5922]

You wouldn’t have called initial raise...this one of those fold or 3bet hands then? Or would you simply fold?

That’s too wide to be calling a raise in CO, which should be around 17% of hands. This is somewhere in that 25% range.

I’d almost always fold here, but I can get behind a 3bet if UTG1 had been raising every pot he enters and seemed indifferent to position. In that case you can make an argument that you’re effectively the opener, and that’s a fine hand to open in CO.

The value of this hand is realized on the flop when they call your pre flop action then check to you as the aggressor. You’ll be able to comfortably cbet semi bluff a ton with some equity should someone call bc of back door flush and/or straight draws. We’re never playing this hoping to hit a flop which is just lighting money on fire. Rather, we’re looking to be punishing players doing something similar.

[Lurch 5922]

On a sick run tonight @$2/2. Not shown is another $600 in my pocket for winning two high hands with AAAKK and KKK99

The kings full held for a full 28 minutes vs a room of 14 tables! All night the winners have been quads and straight flushes but for my two boats

[Lurch 5922]

Finished net +$2,070 over 5 hours. Probably my biggest $2/2 session win

[dirtonia 269]

Run it up bruh! Florida action sounds legit.

[Bookman 4638]

50 minutes ago, Lurch said:

Finished net +$2,070 over 5 hours. Probably my biggest $2/2 session win

207BB/hour is pretty decent.

[Bookman 4638]

20 hours ago, Lurch said:

I would not have called the initial $15, but I like the rest of the play. The question is if there is any way to get the rest of UTG1’s stack. If you had min raised, it sounds like he still may have talked himself into a fold, and you absolutely can’t just call. Shove seems to be optimal. Well played

What do you think of the button's preflop raise size? I would have made it $75 here in San Antonio.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Bookman

[pearlandhorn 3269]

8 minutes ago, Bookman said:

What do you think of the button's preflop raise size? I would have made it $75 here in San Antonio.

Standard opens in Houston, which I would imagine be comparable to San Antonio/Austin/Dallas are $20 to $25 at $1/$3 games. I would have made it closer to $100 if I were in the same position (button with 3 players in pot). 

I had a very similar situation a few years ago at a card house in Houston. UTG open to $25, two callers and I look down at Aces on the button. I 3-bet to $100 and everyone folded. Maybe it was too big but the player pool is completely different between big cities and small town rooms. 

[Bookman 4638]

Yeah I don't get these open sizes. A few years ago I was playing a 1/2 game at SA Card House. The standard open raise was $10 - $17. I was completely card dead and folded almost everything for four+ hours. The table literally had a conversation about how I wasn't playing anything. Then I get A-A UTG.

I remember thinking "everyone on this table knows I've been folding everything, so if I raise to $17 everyone's going to fold." I raise to $15. The action goes:

Call, call, guy asks me what I have, then calls, call, call, raise to $100, fold, fold.

What would have happened if I had raised to $20, $25, $30, $35?

Next session, I had A-A on the button. UTG raises to $12, two callers, I bump it up to $60 and got four callers, including a cold call from the SB. Should I have bet $80? $100? $120? I had $300 or so in my stack, which covered everyone except the SB. What if had just shoved preflop?

I'm convinced that at some of these games people are there to gamble and they are never, ever, ever folding preflop. I could open shove $300 and someone with a $100 stack is going to call with J-T suited because "that's my favorite hand." But I once 4-bet shoved 150+ BB with A-A from the SB and everyone folded. I'm still a little surprised at that since there were over 100 BBs in the pot already.

[Lurch 5922]

Run it up bruh! Florida action sounds legit.

Every night I can count on multiple players with little to no prior experience playing live casino poker. When your opponents have no understanding of position, bet sizing, persona awareness, equity, etc., it makes for very unusual play. The delta between $2/2 and $2/5 here is enormous. It’s as if they were two entirely different games.

[Lurch 5922]

What do you think of the button's preflop raise size? I would have made it $75 here in San Antonio.

It’s a mistake to think of there being a “standard” size, imo. Sizing should be specific to the action at that table. Here, the button should have wanted to pick a size that would result in 1-2 callers, inflating the pot as much as possible without driving everyone to fold. Much more art than science, and absolutely not formulaic.

Because 3bets are infrequent at $1/2, it’s likely button didn’t have enough insight into the table dynamics to make a more effective raise size. In that case, I too probably would have gone with a 3-4x raise as I’d much rather have too many callers than none at all.

FWIW, over the course of a session, I will gradually increase my open bet sizing preflop until I stop getting 3+ callers. Eventually the table will start using my size as their standard, callers will adapt and start calling it more frequently, and I’ll have to bump it up yet again. With enough hand experience at the table, I’d use this same concept for my 3bet sizing.

[Lurch 5922]

I'm convinced that at some of these games people are there to gamble and they are never, ever, ever folding preflop. I could open shove $300 and someone with a $100 stack is going to call with J-T suited because "that's my favorite hand."

These are our target customers. They are the ones that make the game profitable for you when you play a sound strategy. Isolate, raise and cbet them relentlessly with an appropriate range and you’ll thoroughly dominate them over the long run.

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Missed this earlier:

[Lurch 5922]

I’m truly stunned they haven’t been open the entire time

[TXSooner518 2438]

Had fun getting back in the poker saddle at Venetian last week. Masks required, 8 handed, and plexiglass dividers present. The mask just doesn't bother me, and the plexiglass doesn't either except in seats 2 and 7, your "opening" is narrower and there is a pane that runs horizontally across the table that is right in your line of sight in 2 and 7, and it can def cause some confusion as it's both transparent and reflective. I was sure no one had cards and almost threw my cards away after betting the flop and thinking everyone folded, but luckily I didn't throw them away.

Was super swingy, first played the $400 UltimateStack $100k guarantee, then the $400 UltimateStack $20k guarantee single day tourney. 3 total bullets, and went 0-6-1 in all-in pots, which is just filth. The only one I didn't lose, the opponent was drawing dead and had 3 chop outs and binked that (K-T-5-9 board, my QJ, his KJ, get in on turn, river Q.).  Then the same guy limps for 300, another guy goes 1000, I go 2500 with KK, limper calls for 2500 with 4000 behind (lol?) other guy calls. Flop is Ks-9s-4d. I bet 1700, both call. Turn 2d. I bet 3000, both call, including the limper is now allin for his last 2300.  River 8d. I jam, other guy folds. Limper has JTdd for the scoop. So he called 1/3 of his stack pre and half of his remaining stack on the flop with a gutty and bdfd on a 2 tone flop. So ridiculously bad. 

Then I had a stretch where I kept flopping straights and then garbage runouts happened. I had 89 on 7JT against JT and an 8 comes on turn to slow the action. Then I have 76 on 854hh, I c/r flop, turn is Kh, I bet, he raises, I call. River 6, he jams, I sigh-fold. So gross to flop the nuts then fold. 

After busting those, I did decide to do an unwind tourney with substances involved and played the $200 Survivor, and went 5-0 on all-in pots haha. Key to rungood: substances. Though substances and plexiglass were a perilous mixture. 

Played one cash session, main hand of note: 5 to flop, I have T8ss, flop T92 one spade, I bet and get 2 calls, turn 3s, I bet big, 1 call. River Ks. I bet $100, he jams for $235. Pretty grody spot, I pay off, he has 54ss and we win (sweet flop peel with someone betting into 4 players, with 3 of them still behind you yet to act). Seems like a very clear river snapcall for him as he will often be good but by raising he's just isolating against the hands that beat him. Like if I have QJ or a set, gonna be pretty tough to call there unless he's bonkers. 

Had a couple of nice vidya poker binks and lots of good food, beverages, and relaxation. 

Looking forward to summer and fall Vegas poker runs!

[CBT 1282]

ok, so get drunk next time.

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Good trip report.

Hearing that Resorts World will have a poker room when they open up this summer. Will be interesting to see how it is.

[jeevsie 3733]

Played Winstar poker room this weekend.  Good time - will report back later.

[TXSooner518 2438]

Wynn running a $10k with $10M guarantee this summer. That's sexy! They also are doing a $1600 buyin with mystery bounties. 🔥

[workswithseed 2088]

I have about 100 bb, and I'm handed aq d, I raise to $15. utg calls, and then utg+2 raises to 40. I call utg gets out of the way. Flop is 8d+qs+5d. I raise to 50 he puts me all in. I call and next is 7c and 2s. I show, and he shows aa. 

Was that a bad call, or just unfortunate?

[Bookman 4638]

You were in a blind?

I hate playing AQ out of position.

[Blotto 23486]

7 hours ago, workswithseed said:

I have about 100 bb, and I'm handed aq d, I raise to $15. utg calls, and then utg+2 raises to 40. I call utg gets out of the way. Flop is 8d+qs+5d. I raise to 50 he puts me all in. I call and next is 7c and 2s. I show, and he shows aa. 

Was that a bad call, or just unfortunate?

Presumably you're playing $1/2, so you started the hand with $200. After your raise (or bet?) to $50 on the flop, the all in call costs you approx another $100 and you're only a slight underdog to overpairs and a favorite to most other likely hands, so the pot odds are there for a call. 

The questionable decision is the $40 preflop call. But you didn't really state your position clearly or what the preflop action was, so it's hard to judge. But if a guy in early position  initially just calls $2 and later 3bets your raise from the blinds to 20bb, with no other info on that player, I'm probably letting go of AQ out of position. Once you called 20% of your stack preflop and flop TPTK with the nut flush redraw, you're committed and just have to let the variance of poker do what it do.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Blotto

[jeevsie 3733]

As noted, I played Winstar last weekend.  It was a random trip - planned last minute.  Just lucked into the fact that the poker room had just opened back up the previous Tuesday.  I made some money playing $1/$2.  The action was definitely different in the morning/afternoon compared to night.  Made money off of suckers early on, then I was the sucker at night.

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

What is the setup at Winstar: masks, plastic partitions? Do they allow seat changes?

[dirtonia 269]

Got ‘em for 11 hundo last night.

Sheeeeeeeeshhhhh

[Lurch 5922]

Though the hand history is illogical, all of the seed play with AQdd appears standard except the donk flop bet

[TXSooner518 2438]

Agreed. No way to fold AQdd on Q75dd. So then your task is to get the money in the widest possible for your opponent. Against an aggro opp who has initiative, I'd just c/call all the way. With $100 in the pot, and $160 behind, will be easy to get stacks in. And there really are only 3 cards we dislike, the non-diamond kings.

Readless or against someone who likes to pot control, I'd c/r flop smallish then barrel. If I have initiative, I'd lead-lead-jam, never folding. 

[dirtonia 269]

Wonder how the card rooms opening in Dallas are going to impact the casinos in meth land? TCH list right now at freakin 2:20ish PM on a random ass Wednesday:



Shuffle is opening a 30 table room there very soon.

[Lurch 5922]

With $160 behind and $95 in pot, opponent could show you Aces while shoving all in and you’d still be correct calling

[jeevsie 3733]

Win star was masks only. No divider between players or dealer. That’s poker room. There were dividers out on the table games. 

[workswithseed 2088]

22 hours ago, Lurch said:

Though the hand history is illogical, all of the seed play with AQdd appears standard except the donk flop bet

I haven't really been able to play live poker, and only listen to how it should be handled. It's much different to actually play than just hearing how it should go. Thanks for the criticism.

[Lurch 5922]

I haven't really been able to play live poker, and only listen to how it should be handled. It's much different to actually play than just hearing how it should go. Thanks for the criticism.

Yeah, the value of table experience can’t be overstated. It’s super easy to read hand histories after the fact and decipher the optimal play, but doing it live, real time is quite challenging, especially when you feel like you’re “on the clock” with the whole table staring at you waiting for your action, and often while you have incomplete reads on your opponents for consideration. I have several thousand hours of experience in live cash games and still have ample opportunities to make my actual play more like my theoretical play

[TXSooner518 2438]

All of that, not to mention the constant struggle to not let emotions outweigh what you know is the right play. I pride myself in doing that in casino poker, not folding out of fear, not getting stubborn, not punting b/c I lost most of my chips.

But I have a couple of low-dollar online leagues I play some with friends, and some of those people make the most raggedy donk plays and it's hard to not just decide "fuck this clown" and just try to run over everyone, and end up punting off. It's like flying down the lane and some big goofy white bastard is in the way, and you just decide "I'm dunking on this goof" and drawing a charge. 

[Bookman 4638]

I’ve found that, for me, playing the right stakes in proportion to my bankroll really helps me think clearly.

[shadow_operative2.0 15942]

This is rather insane. 

 

[Lurch 5922]

Crazy. I can almost see how he’d call the flop and River, but 4s?!?

[dirtonia 269]

Damn, been a minute since I was still at a card room when the sun came up. Decided to just say fuck and get donuts and champagne on the way home.

Was in for 2gs, got out of stuckville briefly, but gd double board PLO bombpots... ended up down 4 bills, but almost feels like a win.

[Lurch 5922]

Finished April w 77 hrs +$2,240 at $2/2. $29.09/hr (14.5 BBs)

Pretty happy with my $2/2 TAG strategy. Biggest leak is calling River bets light out of curiosity. They’re almost never bluffing. On the flip side, I’m winning in large part because I’m bluffing a ton, especially focusing on turn and river bluffs. It’s not a strategy that will work as well at $2/5, but my plan is to run this a few months and then get back into the $2/5 games as an improved bluffer, even if I can do so as frequently

[Lurch 5922]

Last night, $2/2 $500 effective stacks.

Two limpers, I make it $15 in LJ w 87cc. HJ, SB, UTG+1 call. $60 pot.

Qh5c3s. Checks to me, I make it $25. Only SB calls. Mid-20s white dude. Competent, but not particularly intimidating. Probably playing too many hands, but not limp folding flops a lot like rest of table. $110 pot.

9c. SB leads out $45. I just call. Had he checked, I would have made it $75. His lead definitely threw me off balance. In hindsight (not because of outcome) I’d rather I raised here and kept role as aggressor. $200 pot.

Qc. SB leads out $80. We both have $400+ behind.

Fold, call, raise?