2018 Poker run good or die

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

On 4/17/2018 at 2:21 PM, Stung said:

Had a crazy hand happen in a 2/5 cash game at the casino.

I was BB, had Jc 10c. I had approx. $450. I was sitting on one corner of the table, and across the table were 3 guys sitting next to each other. They had AA KK QQ. The guy with AA raised to $30. KK and QQ both called and one other called before it got to me. I also called. Flop came Q 8 9, rainbow. Having flopped the nut straight, I checked. AA bet $100. KK raised all in with around $500 in chips, QQ, with a set went all in, he had everyone at the table covered. With all the action at the opposite edge of the table, the guy with AA called before I did, like they forgot I was over there. I of course called. Turn was a 2. River was another 9. The guy with QQ ended up with a full house. 

It wasn't that I lost $450. The guy with AA had about $300, the other 2 had me covered, so I would have won around $1200. Just brutal. I got up and left even though I'd only been there about an hour. 

I've seen that many people be all in in a tourney right before the rebuy time expires, but never in a cash game. Crazy. 

Some weird (bad) betting on that hand, especially with the AA player.  Starting with raising 6x the BB with the initial bet.  Good way to potentially waste AA by buying the SB and BB.  Then AA runs scared after the flop by "only" betting $100 in to a $120 pot.  KK should have just called the flop $100 bet with 2 people acting behind him, which could have allowed him to fold once you or QQ reraised.

But the craziest part is AA calling the all-in.  Sure he was an idiot for going out of turn but he knew 2 players (and we know it was actually 3) were all-in, and it's not like QQ or JT is impossible.   Was this a table where someone would raise all-in with top pair, decent kicker like AQ or KQ?  Those and KK is all he could beat in a showdown. Take a second and fold the AA.

Large pre-flop pots with 4 people are tough especially as it increase the chances of someone pulling a suckout card.  Unfortunately for you, even if AA and KK hadn't been quite so bad, you probably were going to lose a lot to QQ with how the cards played out.  Assuming no all-in earlier, could you have folded the top straight on the river on the off chance that the QQ player had QQ, 99, Q9, Q8 or 88?

[Lurch 5930]

Wild.  I disagree with every point you made in the first paragraph!

[po elvis 2070]

1 hour ago, Lurch said:

Wild.  I disagree with every point you made in the first paragraph!

yeah i was going to say the same thing.

[TonyTexas 10515]

Damn this would be nice even in Canadian dollars. They must pull heavy from pots to have 2 million dollar BBJ pots within a year. 

It had been eight months since the last bad beat jackpot was hit at Playground Poker Club. Back in August of 2017, the BBJ was hit at an incredible $1,210,989. That jackpot was triggered when one player rivered a straight flush against quad jacks. 

Fast forward to the really late or really early hours of April 27, and you have yourself an even bigger jackpot hit. At 5:30 a.m., the total was sitting at over $1,375,000, making it the largest Primary BBJ ever awarded at Playground Poker Club. The ironic thing is: the jackpot last year was triggered at 5:20 p.m. and this one was triggered at 5:30 a.m. Just throwing that out there. 

According to Playground Poker, nine players were seated at a $2/$5 NLHE cash game table with five other NLHE games running. 

As the loser of the hand, Kwane R scooped the biggest share of the jackpot ($522,622). Daniel F collected $261,311 as the winner of the hand, while the other seven players at the table each received $37,328. And that wasn't all — everyone seated at a table in the poker room when the jackpot hit was paid $5,938 as part of the promotion.

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by TonyTexas

[blacklab 11929]

somebody was shot outside texas card house

http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/apd-investigating-shooting-in-nw-austin/1150987414

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

19 minutes ago, blacklab said:

somebody was shot outside texas card house

http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/apd-investigating-shooting-in-nw-austin/1150987414

Yep. Got an email this morning from them regarding this. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

6 hours ago, Lurch said:

Wild.  I disagree with every point you made in the first paragraph!

That’s cool but raising the BB by 6x is too much with the initial raise.    It’s a great way to buy the SB and BB. Free turn around the table.  If that is a players goal, I think it’s a great strategy.    

[CBT 1282]

28 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

That’s cool but raising the BB by 6x is too much with the initial raise.    It’s a great way to buy the SB and BB. Free turn around the table.  If that is a players goal, I think it’s a great strategy.    

If everyone folds every time you raise 6x, that's a good thing, DUCY?

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

3 hours ago, blacklab said:

somebody was shot outside texas card house

http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/apd-investigating-shooting-in-nw-austin/1150987414

Awful news 

[Lurch 5930]

6 hours ago, blacklab said:

somebody was shot outside texas card house

http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/apd-investigating-shooting-in-nw-austin/1150987414

Damn.  I never felt good leaving there late.

Best Bet has a parked cop in the lot entrance and another patrolling in a cart.  It’s much more secure feeling lot.

[Lurch 5930]

6 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

That’s cool but raising the BB by 6x is too much with the initial raise.    It’s a great way to buy the SB and BB. Free turn around the table.  If that is a players goal, I think it’s a great strategy.    

On a $2/5 table w 7 or more players, I never open less than $25.  If $25 openers are getting 4+ callers, I instead start opening at $30.  I’ve occasionally gone to $35.

The goal is play in a pot w no more than 2 other players.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

6 hours ago, CBT said:

If everyone folds every time you raise 6x, that's a good thing, DUCY?

If the goal is to win the SB and BB, you're right.  

[LongestHorn 759]

I'll check.

[po elvis 2070]

fuck you Texas Card House. takes a shooting to make them add a second security guard. security is the number one key to keeping these card rooms operating. one shitty card room can cause the heat coming down on all of them. pisses me off. same for SA Card House and Rounders in San Antonio. add more fuckin security. Alamo Card House is the only one I have seen doing security right.

[TXSooner518 2438]

On 4/30/2018 at 3:14 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

That’s cool but raising the BB by 6x is too much with the initial raise.    It’s a great way to buy the SB and BB. Free turn around the table.  If that is a players goal, I think it’s a great strategy.    

I would agree that raising 6x in a tourney would be pretty bad, but most cash games I have played 6x isn't too much.    You do need to know the table and your opponents and size correctly.  I just played a 1/2 cash game where there was a $5 straddle, I opened to $20 with AA and got 4 callers. 

I do think the guy with AA actually bet too MUCH on the flop, as there's no reason to bloat the pot on a connected board 4 handed with one pair.  Similar to Lurch's KK hand earlier, this board is bad for AA, so utilize some pot control.  Calling the two allins is just suicidal.  I also do agree that the KK guy should just be calling the flop.  Again, we don't need to pot commit ourselves to stack off 100 BB deep with one pair on connected boards in multiway pots.

[Lurch 5930]

Flop was Q98 rainbow.  W AA and KK I’m betting pretty large to price out the straight draws that most probably have and probably checking the turn regardless of what hits.  Bet small and you’re likely seeing everyone go to the turn and have no idea where you are.

[crony 359]

On 4/30/2018 at 3:14 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

That’s cool but raising the BB by 6x is too much with the initial raise.    It’s a great way to buy the SB and BB. Free turn around the table.  If that is a players goal, I think it’s a great strategy.    

At a 2/5 table? That's a common raise even when it's non aggro. Hell, 1/2 tables often come out with $25 raises with at least one caller. Mostly more due to the 1/2 ignorance. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

News to me that 6x BB is the common preflop raise.  What are y’all sitting down with a 2/5 NLHE table to cover that level of raises?  1k? 

[TXSooner518 2438]

14 hours ago, Lurch said:

Flop was Q98 rainbow.  W AA and KK I’m betting pretty large to price out the straight draws that most probably have and probably checking the turn regardless of what hits.  Bet small and you’re likely seeing everyone go to the turn and have no idea where you are.

There is only one possible OESD which is 76, which isn't gonna like his hand much, because if he hits the T, he loses to any jack, so he basically has a gutshot worth of equity.  I doubt hands like AT are calling 60 on the flop, and if they are, well we are in an awesome game.

The problem is we just don't have a huge equity edge in a 4 handed pot with one pair and no way to improve on this board.  Q9, Q8, 98, 88, 99 and JT are all very plausible hands, which all have us in bad shape or worse.  I think we are getting a bit married to our preflop equity, rather than adjusting to the current situation.  If we pot it and get jammed on, we have to fold, barring specific reads, so we are just losing more when we bet/fold huge.  

Obviously, I also think there is a big difference in the situation where we are in position vs OOP.  OOP, I actually prefer checking our range, and seeing what happens behind.  If it goes bet/raise/call or something like that, we can often just pitch our hand. 

After typing this, I ran a sim on EquiLab.  I gave hero KK, and 3 opponents ranges which included roughly 25%, 25% and 35% of hands (making the last one wider since they can call wider pre since the pot is bigger), and here are the equities on Q98r:

http://www.pokerstrategy.com
Board: Qh9s8c
    Equity    Win    Tie
MP2    38.19%    37.85%    0.34%    { KK }
MP3    21.57%    20.04%    1.52%    { JJ-22, A2s+, K8s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo, T9o, 98o }
CO    21.41%    19.80%    1.62%    { 66+, A2s+, K6s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, A7o+, K9o+, QTo+, JTo }
BU    18.83%    17.36%    1.47%    { 55+, A2s+, K4s+, Q6s+, J7s+, T7s+, 98s, A4o+, K8o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o }

We do have an edge, but if the stacks go in it is against the top of our opponent's range. Betting big just folds out the chaff, while committing us against the straights, sets, and 2 pair. This is not the spot to play a big pot with one pair.

Edited May 2, 2018 by TXSooner518

[capnamerca 571]

17 hours ago, TXSooner518 said:

I also do agree that the KK guy should just be calling the flop.  Again, we don't need to pot commit ourselves to stack off 100 BB deep with one pair on connected boards in multiway pots.

You use your tongue prettier than a $2 whore.

[Stung 6]

On 4/29/2018 at 11:46 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Some weird (bad) betting on that hand, especially with the AA player.  Starting with raising 6x the BB with the initial bet.  Good way to potentially waste AA by buying the SB and BB.  Then AA runs scared after the flop by "only" betting $100 in to a $120 pot.  KK should have just called the flop $100 bet with 2 people acting behind him, which could have allowed him to fold once you or QQ reraised.

But the craziest part is AA calling the all-in.  Sure he was an idiot for going out of turn but he knew 2 players (and we know it was actually 3) were all-in, and it's not like QQ or JT is impossible.   Was this a table where someone would raise all-in with top pair, decent kicker like AQ or KQ?  Those and KK is all he could beat in a showdown. Take a second and fold the AA.

Large pre-flop pots with 4 people are tough especially as it increase the chances of someone pulling a suckout card.  Unfortunately for you, even if AA and KK hadn't been quite so bad, you probably were going to lose a lot to QQ with how the cards played out.  Assuming no all-in earlier, could you have folded the top straight on the river on the off chance that the QQ player had QQ, 99, Q9, Q8 or 88?

6x did not seem out of line. $20-$25 is pretty standard raise, but this table had some loose players. If I'm getting 4 or 5 callers on my $20 raise, I'll start bumping it up to hopefully price a few of them out. And if everyone folds and I win the blinds? I guess I'd rather win a small pot than lose a big one. I felt he made a normal sized bet on the flop. $100 into a $150 pot (there were 5 in), is 2/3 the pot, which isn't out of line. It's enough to get anyone on a draw to fold and if he gets reraised, he could still fold. It's hard to blame anyone for going all in on AA or KK. They can be difficult hands to get away from, especially if you aren't that experienced (they weren't). 

I wasn't getting away from that hand. My plan was to check raise and get all in by the turn. 

[TXSooner518 2438]

Holy balls, I am actually on a 2-session cash game win streak after the Bataan Death March where every session ended with some absolutely ridiculous bullshit. 

I have played a bit at The Lodge, poker club in Round Rock.  Games are pretty soft, couple of fun quick tourneys (though I still maintain tourneys are not beatable paying hourly rake at low stakes), comfy chairs and tables.  

First session was before their $120 tourney with $40 bounties.  I had about 75 minutes to play, and 50 minutes in, hadn't raked a chip.  Ended up raising AA, getting 4 calls, and getting it in on a Q95 board.  Guy had JT, turned a J but missed the river.  With 4 min to go til the tourney, raise and call in front of me, I 3bet QQ, really expecting the initial raiser to 4b allin to continue my "last 5 minutes of a session" doomswitch but they folded, and I booked a +$200 session.  Busted the tourney in 8th, paying 6, getting it in on KJ9 holding KJ against AK, A on turn no waiting.  Did earn two bounties, and also won a 3 way allin holding JJ against KJ and AQ, which is a hand I never win, so maybe things are turning?

Went yesterday to play in their 7-game mix, but it didn't go, so I played some more 1/2.  Had one tough interesting decision.  The background -  villain is loose and very "button-clicky" meaning he makes decisions sometimes without much apparent logic.  I have him in the "don't bluff him" circle after these two hands:  

H1: He straddles my BB to $5, someone makes it $14, horrendous player in the SB calls, I call from BB with QcJc, he calls straddle.  4 to flop, $56.  Flop is T35r, checks through.  Turn K, flush draw.  SB bets $25, I call, he makes it $50, SB calls, I call.  Pot $206. River 9x. SB bets $40 with $120 behind, villain has about $175 behind. I cover both, and jam.  Villain calls quickly, SB tank tank tank tank calls with K9.  I show the nuts.  Villain says SB had him beat with the K9.

H2: I open Ac9c to $10 from MP, villain calls CO, BB defends. Pot $31.  Flop QhJTcc.  Ck, I bet $18, both call.  Pot $67. Turn 4h.  I bet $45, both call.  Pot $202. River 3x. Checks through, villain wins with Q5o.  (BB had Ah5h).  

On to the hand in question:  Villain straddles my BB to $7, two people call, I call Ac8c, villain call.  Pot $29.  Flop AQ5r, one club.  I ck, villain ck, $15, call, call, villain $30, call, call, call.  Pot $149.  Turn 6x. Ck villain $30, fold, fold, I call.  Pot $209.  River 6x. So AQ566, I hold A8.  I check, villain jams for $170.  Thoughts?

[AUS-97HORN 11763]

my guess is villain has one of 5 hands.

1st: Qx

2nd: Ax  maybe A5 or I guess technically Q5 as well, he's pissed at the river counterfeiting his 2 pair and jams to make it too "expensive" to call.

3rd: 55

4th: AQ

5th   total air.   maybe holding 4-3 going for the inside straight, then open ender and missing

since no flush draw, I really cant see much else unless he lucked into something like 6x.  outside chance of A6, Q6.

so for the rational hands you are 50/50 on being ahead or even . If the guy is being a complete lunatic, then you are good on a river bluff.

You are getting 2.3X to call with an honest chance of not losing more than 50% of the time.

unless you really read bluff, and it sounding like hes a top pair never foldem, I would only expect to win about 25% of the time, tie about 30%, and lose about 45%. 

So you lose $67 by folding or lose $237 by calling, win $37 with a tie, or win $380 by winning.

 

safe play is fold.  but calling isnt horribad

Edited May 14, 2018 by AUS-97HORN

[CBT 1282]

how many combos of AQ and AK is he raising pre from the straddle?

[CBT 1282]

4 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

 

1st: Qx

5th   total air.   maybe holding 4-3 going for the inside straight, then open ender and missing

 

Is he x/minraising either of these in a multiway limped pot? Maybe, but seems like they should high discounted. 

[TXSooner518 2438]

11 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

my guess is villain has one of 5 hands.

1st: Qx

2nd: Ax  maybe A5 or I guess technically Q5 as well, he's pissed at the river counterfeiting his 2 pair and jams to make it too "expensive" to call.

3rd: 55

4th: AQ

5th   total air.   maybe holding 4-3 going for the inside straight, then open ender and missing

since no flush draw, I really cant see much else unless he lucked into something like 6x.  outside chance of A6, Q6.

so for the rational hands you are 50/50 on being ahead or even . If the guy is being a complete lunatic, then you are good on a river bluff.

You are getting 2.3X to call with an honest chance of not losing more than 50% of the time.

unless you really read bluff, and it sounding like hes a top pair never foldem, I would only expect to win about 25% of the time, tie about 30%, and lose about 45%. 

So you lose $67 by folding or lose $237 by calling, win $37 with a tie, or win $380 by winning.

 

safe play is fold.  but calling isnt horribad

Where are you getting the $67, $237, $37, $380 numbers?  Chopping wins me $110 as compared to folding here.

9 minutes ago, CBT said:

how many combos of AQ and AK is he raising pre from the straddle?

My read at the time was that he was almost never having AQ or AK because I thought he would raise those pre.

6 minutes ago, CBT said:

Is he x/minraising either of these in a multiway limped pot? Maybe, but seems like they should high discounted. 

Agree I don't see much Qx at all.  Maybe an occasional KJ or KT where he is button clicking a bit maybe to try and take the lead on the flop then bet the turn small to keep his draw cheap.  

My thoughts were Q5, 55, Ax as his 3 most likely hands. 

[CBT 1282]

Ugh, even button mashers may not river pot it at 1/2 without the goods. Does he really do that with Ax?? In H2, he checks his top pair, although it was versus 2 people. H1 shows us his dumb x/minraise line. Wish we knew what what he had there. Did he do it with Kx and call it off?

It's gross either way, but I probably fold unless I'm really confident that he does that will all (or most of) his Ax combos. 

[AUS-97HORN 11763]

17 minutes ago, TXSooner518 said:

Where are you getting the $67, $237, $37, $380 numbers?  Chopping wins me $110 as compared to folding here.

 

Real money wins vs losses.

You only have $67 dead money in the pot on the river,  if you call 170 and lose, its $237 lost.  $37 is the real dollar win if it a tie, $104 paid out minus your 67 $$ and you are correct that the $380 number wouldnt be correct as a win of the hand nets you about $313.   (total pot before you act is 380 minus your $67 dead money).  So that was a mistake by me.

Yes, I realize most folks look at total pot even including your dead money, I always try to work how much net, net I can win in the hand if Im making that call.  So I am a bit different thinking, which is where I am getting my numbers..

 

I still think you fold here unless you just read total bluff

[TXSooner518 2438]

It doesn't matter where the money in the pot came from.  That's the sunk cost fallacy.  What if the casino was running a $500 splash pot promo, are we not going to factor all that money in just because it didn't come from our stack?  Also we would be making DRAMATICALLY different conclusions using your method in a situation where, say, 10 people see the flop for $10 apiece or 2 people for $50 apiece, even though there is $100 in the pot either way.  

For this hand, let's say I have $400 behind on the river.  Also I erroneously put I win $110 in a chop, it's actually 105.

If I fold, obviously, I have $400 in my stack.

If I call and lose, I have $230.

If I call and chop, I have $505.

If I call and win, I have $779.

You have to use these numbers, and not the numbers related to what I personally put in to accurately calculate your EV and make a correct decision.  So as a jump off, not as the actual range, let's say I win 30, lose 30, chop 40.  My EV of calling is (.3x779) + (.3x230) + (.4x505) = $504.7.  So calling wins me $104 using those numbers, as calling I will average $504 and folding I will have $400.  Make the numbers win 25, lose 40, chop 35 and the EV is $463, winning $63 by calling.  Make them win 20, lose 50, chop 30, and you win $21.50 by calling.  Make them win 10, lose 60, chop 30 and calling loses $32.50.  I don't think it can ever be worse than that honestly.  

Your way is dramatically undercounting the value of calling and chopping simply because some of that money originated in my stack. It's gone now, and isn't coming back unless I call and win or chop.

Edited May 14, 2018 by TXSooner518

[VolenteHawk 495]

55 minutes ago, CBT said:

Ugh, even button mashers may not river pot it at 1/2 without the goods. Does he really do that with Ax?? In H2, he checks his top pair, although it was versus 2 people. H1 shows us his dumb x/minraise line. Wish we knew what what he had there. Did he do it with Kx and call it off?

It's gross either way, but I probably fold unless I'm really confident that he does that will all (or most of) his Ax combos. 

This is pretty much where I'm at.  Fold, because I don't see enough paths to victory, mathematically or by gut.

 

[TXSooner518 2438]

1 hour ago, CBT said:

Ugh, even button mashers may not river pot it at 1/2 without the goods. Does he really do that with Ax?? In H2, he checks his top pair, although it was versus 2 people. H1 shows us his dumb x/minraise line. Wish we knew what what he had there. Did he do it with Kx and call it off?

It's gross either way, but I probably fold unless I'm really confident that he does that will all (or most of) his Ax combos. 

I wouldn't think he is jamming Ax on the river for value, but to get me to fold a chop.  I think he can jam A5/Q5 out of uh-oh I"m counterfeited must jam to win.  I think he has maybe one combo of KJ or KT where he tried to bet-size control to draw cheap.  

Obviously he also can have all the 55, all the A6, and sometimes AQ/AK for value.  Comfortable saying never QQ, never AA, never 66, never 65, never Q6.

Also keep in mind that calling and winning 0%, chopping 60%, losing 40% is about break-even.  Win 0, chop 65, lose 35 shows profit to call.

[CBT 1282]

32 minutes ago, TXSooner518 said:

Make them win 10, lose 60, chop 30 and calling loses $32.50.  I don't think it can ever be worse than that honestly.  

 

Given reads it's probably super close. So call = fold long term more or less. So either is fine. And you can't win if you fold...

[CBT 1282]

4 minutes ago, TXSooner518 said:

I wouldn't think he is jamming Ax on the river for value, but to get me to fold a chop.  I think he can jam A5/Q5 out of uh-oh I"m counterfeited must jam to win.  I think he has maybe one combo of KJ or KT where he tried to bet-size control to draw cheap.  

Obviously he also can have all the 55, all the A6, and sometimes AQ/AK for value.  Comfortable saying never QQ, never AA, never 66, never 65, never Q6.

Also keep in mind that calling and winning 0%, chopping 60%, losing 40% is about break-even.  Win 0, chop 65, lose 35 shows profit to call.

if you think he's capable of shoving to fold out a chop, then yea, I lean more to a call. Great analysis above.

Now, inb4 he slow played AA. 

[CBT 1282]

Results?

[TXSooner518 2438]

I tanked which is unusual. I usually play pretty quickly. I knew it was close. I thought about folding to help ensure a win but also pride myself on not letting previous results impact my decisions. I finally called and got shown AQ. #fu

[CBT 1282]

shits rigged yo

[TXSooner518 2438]

Indeed. Still a +$584 cash session. Tourney was similarly rigged when guy flats QTo to my AJss. Flop J94sxx, get it in on 8s turn, brick river.

Also a cauldron of rigged: I am BB and the dealer bonks my second card into my hand and exposes it. 9h. My other card is 9s. Replacement is Kx. Chipleader donk clown limps (this is legit 90% of hands). SB jams 3 blinds. I call K9. Clown folds. SB has AA . 9 flops.

[Lurch 5930]

Im not sure if I wrote about it already, but not too long ago a poor dealer who always flips 1-2 cards each time he’s at our table flipped a card to me then dealt me the replacement. I look down at AA. I get it all in and get felted.

 

[AUS-97HORN 11763]

hell Lurch you have left us..... in the lurch without a posting on poker for, like a full month,  so no, no you didnt tell us how the bad dealer fucked you.

[Lurch 5930]

Yeah, I’ve not played much this last month. Fishing and job hunting mostly. I do have the bug so may get out tonight

 

[Lurch 5930]

I’m second on the list to join the BestBet live stream that’s already running. Go sweat them and root for a few guys to get busted by the weakest player so I can come in and clean up

[Lurch 5930]

[Lurch 5930]

(They we’re just on break). Still 2nd in line

[Lurch 5930]

Never got to stream. The broke before I was up.

Played until 3:30. Around 2:30 this 50ish black dude sits to my right and quickly blows through two $300 buyins. He then asks the table max ($800) and buys in for that. There’s a 30ish black guy to his right and the older guy starts going off to him on how the table is soft and tight as a drum. “Nobody wants to gamble.” “Us N*s don’t care because we have nothing to lose” etc. of course I’m picking all of this up. I’ve seen him bet greater than pot without having to show and now I’m fairly confident he was full of shit just like he was when he got felted twice early.

He’s sitting UTG+1 and he lays out a blind $25 before dealer has even completed the shuffle. UTG folds so action skips to me. 56o. With $750, I decide to take a shot and call. One other caller in late position. $80 pot.

T34 rainbow. He checks and I make it $35. Late position folds. Dude makes it $140. I’m pretty sure he’s full of shit, but all I have is an open ender. I say fuck it and call. He immediately lays $300 out before dealer can even collect our chips.

5x. Pot is now $360 and the action is on me. Even if he had the Ten, I’ve got 14 outs to beat him. And I still don’t think he has shit. I call and he immediate shoves the rest of his chips (has me covered) again before dealer can even collect.

Pot is $960 and we go to river with him already putting me all in if I want to call.

7. I stupidly show first so we don’t get to see what he has, but dragging that pot was fun as fuck.

[CBT 1282]

ez game.

[Lurch 5930]

I straddle because I’m a degen. Two callers, I check my option w 74s. $30 pot.

AA9. We all check.

J. We all check.

5. We all check.

We all wait for someone to show any two cards so we can fold. One guy just says fuck it and folds. Then the other guy does too.

I take it down and show my 74 laughing. First guy says 23s, second says 64. So I legit won w 7 high.

/csb

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Houston poker update:

Poker in Texas is hot right now. Over the past year, poker clubs have sprung up across the state, and despite operating in a bit of a grey area, the Lone Star State industry continues to grow.

That includes a WPT DeepStacks stop coming to Houston’s FreeRolls Poker Club, which opened last month and has already established itself as a leader in the Texas poker market. The $1,000 buy-in, $100K GTD WPT DeepStack Houston Main Event will run from September 26 – October 2.

"ONE DAY I TOTALLY FLIPPED THE CURRENT POKER MODEL FROM MAKING MONEY FROM MEMBERS TO MAKING MONEY BECAUSE OF THE MEMBERS."

FreeRolls is unique in that they don’t charge any fees beyond membership. That means no rake, no seat rentals and no illegal tipping. As long as clubs don’t make money directly from poker, it is legal in Texas, or so club owners believe.

Despite others, like Houston City Councilman Greg Travis who said on a radio show that he believed Texas poker clubs are “illegal under Texas law,” the clubs continue to operate. Not only that, they’re making moves.

For instance, FreeRolls Poker Club has introduced a new advertising model in which they will air commercials at the poker table and are also seeking investors after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed the JOBS Act, which allows for small companies to raise capital from the public via crowdfunding portals like growthfountain.com.

PokerNews recently spoke with Trent Daniel, business development director of FreeRolls, to delve a little deeper into poker in Texas.

PokerNews: What inspired Freerolls Poker Club to seek investors?

Daniel: Generally speaking, prior to the JOBS Act, small companies with great ideas like FreeRolls struggled to raise capital because of limitations on how an investment opportunity could be marketed to potential investors. Now, it is a whole different day because public solicitation and online crowdfunding are legal as long as certain rules are followed.

While the number of investors and momentum is still growing, many of our investments coming in are as little as $100 … [Our] business model is easily expandable and becomes more valuable as we open new locations across the State and into other states with laws similar to Texas. We did not create FreeRolls to be a single club - we created it as an expandable concept through franchising and licensing.

Does the current legal landscape in Texas concern you at all?

FreeRolls is an investable business because our model follows the laws of Texas without trying to squeak through loopholes and murky waters. To us and our legal counsel, the laws are very clear about what can and cannot be done with a poker club.

Until the Texas AG issues an opinion on poker clubs in the State, there will always be a debate as to whether many of the clubs operating are legal … While we support and hope for the success of every poker club, we do agree with the District Attorney of Harris County that many of the poker clubs operating in the city are operating "on the razor's edge of the law." At FreeRolls, we don't believe in "razor's edge" or "narrow paths" when it comes to running a business because a growth model is hard to follow if you are not sure if your doors will be open the next day.

Running ads/commercials at a poker table is a relatively new concept. How did this idea come about?

The advertising idea was one of my "in the shower" epiphanies that I get from time to time. My partners and I had already been discussing how to build a poker club without operating within a "loophole" in the law but we struggled to find a way. Then one day I totally flipped the current poker model from making money from members to making money because of the members.

"WE DID NOT CREATE FREEROLLS TO BE A SINGLE CLUB - WE CREATED IT AS AN EXPANDABLE CONCEPT THROUGH FRANCHISING AND LICENSING."

My marketing and PR background enabled us to conclude that the real value in having a bunch of people sitting around our club for hours at a time was that they are a totally captive audience and that is how the idea of integrating ads into the tables came to be.

How will the ads work at the table?

While I cannot divulge the inner workings of exactly how we are able to deliver ads to the tables, I can say that our partnership with Amazon Cloud services has made the process cost-effective, streamlined and easily expandable.

One thing that I can tell you is that we are currently in development of a new software system that will allow us to deliver interactive ads to our players based on the member profiles. We expect to launch this program by the time we host the WPTDeepstacks event in September. From an investor standpoint, this is very exciting because our ads rates will go up substantially as we will be enabled to deliver dynamic, demographic focused ads to on our system.

Have you sold any ads? What sort of businesses are taking advantage?

We have booked over 35 advertisers who are currently onboard and we expect to have over 100 by the end of September. Our focus from now until WPTDeepstacks Houston is local advertisers but once we have a solid six months of provable traffic through the clubs, we will focus on regional and national ad contracts.

Earlier this month Houston City Councilman Greg Travis said poker clubs are “illegal under Texas law.” Does Freerolls Poker Club have a response?

We do agree with him on several key components as to why he believes Texas poker clubs are illegal. We believe that charging players money to sit at the poker table is illegal and we know that dealers making tips from it is illegal.

"WE HAVE BOOKED OVER 35 ADVERTISERS WHO ARE CURRENTLY ONBOARD AND WE EXPECT TO HAVE OVER 100 BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER."

Our best response is to invite Councilman Travis and any of his colleagues to our club so we can sit down with them and show clearly how FreeRolls has succeeded not only in building the better mousetrap, but also one that complies with Texas law.

We have nothing to hide and that is why we are doing a public fundraiser, are partners with the World Poker Tour and are now official fundraising partners for Wounded Warrior Project that services our military brothers and sisters injured in the line of duty.

We also are an official fundraising partner with Texas Brotherhood ride that supports families of fallen first responders. Each week we donate to these organizations and will continue to use the FreeRolls model as something that can enhance the experience of life in the city of Houston and the great State of Texas.

http://bit.ly/2IwZwkg

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

AAS:

2 arrested in poker house robbery that left man injured, police say

Two men were arrested for an armed robbery at a poker house in April that left a man wounded, Austin police said Monday.

Jermaine Patrick Spirlark, 41, and Charles Clines-Martinez 24, were arrested for aggravated robbery, police said. Police said Spirlark demanded and took property from a man at Texas Card House, located in far Northwest Austin, on April 30 around 4 a.m.

They said Spirlark shot the man at the poker house, and caused serious injury.

The victim was treated at a local hospital and was released.

Police are working with Bexar County officials, who assisted in the investigation, to release a photo of Spirlark.

https://atxne.ws/2KIfXGN

[TXSooner518 2438]

TCH sent out an email which indicated that Cline-Martinez, the accomplice, was a security guard there. That's crazy if true.

[TXSooner518 2438]

Played a short cash session last night and had another fun river decision. 

BACKGROUND HANDS
I've been at the table about 45 minutes, and fairly recently won a pretty gross pot:  guy limps, I raise to $12 with KThh, 3 calls, limper jams for $62.  I have about $170 effective.  I think all options are good/bad.  I think the limper can be pretty wide, since the pot is almost his stack size, he can jam wide, it gets through a lot, and if he gets called, he is almost getting 2:1 on his money.  I consider just folding, I consider jamming to isolate, but decide to do what is probably the worst, which is call.  My thought at the time was that the other players likely fold, so now I'm getting 2.2:1 on my money against a wide range, and if they re-jam, I know I'm in trouble.  The problem is that at that point, I'm still getting a great price, and may induce the re-jam by calling.  In retrospect I think jam>fold>>>>call.  One other guy, who was a bad button-clicker, called.  Pot $210, 3 players, 1 allin.  Flop QT7ssc.  I check, he bets $40, I call.  Turn 3c. I check, he bets $55, I had about $65 left and just stick it in, and he calls and says "hit me dealer".  River 5d, I flip up my KT, he shows 88, limp-jammer folds what he says is AK and I scoop.

Few minutes later, I open J9 to $10 in LP, 3 calls.  Flop KQ5, I cbet $20, guy is allin for $21 total, I call and lose to his QJ.

HAND IN QUESTION
10 minutes later, I go $10 UTG with AhJd, 3 calls.  Flop AQ6dd.  I cbet $20, only the BB calls. Pot $80. Turn A.  BB bets $40.  I call here.  Obviously he can have lots of draws, but raising here takes away his bluffs and worse hands. Pot $160. River 8x. BB stacks up all of his chips in a tower and shoves for $275.  Villain is a regular who has been talking lots of poker, including bragging about stacking a guy 3 times the night before, with one being snapcalling AA on 743 flop for $500 and sucking out on 43. I have seen him do the stack all his chips overbet river jam once before in this session, jamming about $200 over a $20 river bet into $50 or so on 876Q4.  I remember thinking at the time that the overbet there seemed horrible unless he had T9. It's great with T9, because a 5 just won't ever fold.  But if he overjammed with just the 5, you just make everything you beat fold, and get stacked off the times you are beat.

So, facing a bet of $275 into $160, holding AhJd on AdQc6d As 8h. WUG?