I went to Morongo with a few friends. Frank, and two of Frank's buddies, Justin and Andy. Of course since Frank is driving, we are supposed to leave at noon. This means we didn't get onto the freeway until 1:30. We swung by Cal Poly Pomona to pick up Andy and we're off. We don't get to the Morongo until 4:15. I have no idea how that happened, other then the fact Frank is a rather conservative driver.
Hands played: Not sure. Estimating about 200-300. Live games are rather slow paced compared to online.
Net Winnings: -$84, with another $30 spent on food and gas expensive and one hand of $5 blackjack.
Quality of play: Excellent, I was at the top of my game.
Net Winnings from the beginning of the 2008
Hands Played Online: 1425
Online: $3.08 lololol
Approximate Hands played live: 300
Live: -$84
Total: -$80.96
So while Frank and the rest of those clowns wandered around the casino looking to play blackjack, I put my name on the board. At Morongo they spread two No Limit Hold'Em games. A 1/3 blind 40 min 100 max buyin game and a 2/5 blind 100 min no max buyin game. I put my name on both.
The 1/3 game had an open seat, so I sat down and bought in for the maximum. Since the casino only offers full ring games, and rakes the blinds even if there is no flop, correct strategy dictates you play tight, and steal pots when they show weakness. I didn't really pick up anything for the first 10-15 minutes and my stack dwindled to around 80.
Then I picked up QQ in the small blind. There were 3 limpers, one from MP, one from CO and one from the BTN. I raised it to 18, a raise I felt that they would be likely to call and extracts maximum value out of my big pair. The flop comes out Qc4c4h. Well top boat is a good flop for my hand. Being out of position rears its ugly head as I try to figure the best way to extract money. I decide to check and give one of the other two players a chance to bet at it, or spike a pair. They both check behind. The turn is a Ks which is a card that one of them might hit if they have a hand like KJ KT or even K7s or something. I bet out for 25 and get one call. The river is the 5s which is practically a blank. I think and then push all in for another 40 or so. He folds and shows 99. I don't think he would've bet if I checked to him anyways, and may have only called a really small bet, so I don't think I missed out on much there.
Not long after that hand, I get called to the 2/5 table. I sit down with $158. I sign up for a $5 rebuy and buy the $3 add on. I come back to the 2/5 and decline to take the big blind as I would rather get a free round of blinds. For people who play at casinos, you should ALWAYS take your free hands if offered. If you have to wait for the big blind to pass, you should do it. Instead of paying money to play, take the time to watch the how the other players play.
Now there is a very strong, low skill strategy that can be used at loose games. It's called short stacking. I'll go into it in more depth later (another post), but short stacking is basically using your short buyin to prevent them from getting proper odds to draw out on you. (I'll go into this later as well) Ed Miller first published the basic concept in a book called Getting Started in Hold'Em. It's a quality piece for people who have no idea how to play well.
Anyways, shortstacking calls for very tight play and relying on your good hands to get paid off because of the lack of skill people have playing against shortstacks. I slowly build my stack to around 200 with a few picked up pots here and there. Then things start to go wrong. A lady raises to 20 from lateish middle position. A donkey calls from the button. I look down at KJs on the bb and decide to take a flop for $15 more. The flop comes out KcJc6h, which is obviously a great flop for me. I decide to check it and see if I can trap more money in the middle before moving in. The lady obliges me by betting $20 more, and the button calls. The pot is $100 now, and if I raise to $100, I'll only have $80 left. I'm practically pot committed anyways if I make any raise, and I don't think either of them will fold a hand like KQ or AK to me anyways, so I just move in. The lady instantly mucks her hand signifying she didn't have anything anyways. The button thinks and thinks. He looks at me, and I'm just tipping the server for bringing me a bottle of water. I notice him looking and look down and stop moving. He finally says call. The turn is a 2s and the river is a Td. Now while, I would normally have a great chance of winning on this board, I had a really bad feeling about that ten. I tell him, "I have top two pair. I beat everything except a set and a straight." He slowly flips over TT and starts grabbing the chips. I'm a bit frustrated since TT is a pretty bad call there and I am 84% favorite to win, but really I can't ask for more then him committing his money bad.
I reload for another 100. I work that up to about 125, then I raise to 25 UTG with AKo. I get 3 callers then the BB, who is an aggressive older Asian guy, reraises to 140. I think for a bit and call. The others fold. He shows me 88, which is more or less what I expected. An 8 hits the flop and just like that I'm drawing dead.
So I'm down 200 right now. I wander around the casino a bit and read Card Player (poker magazine provided in the poker lounge). The tournament starts and work my stack up a bit with some aggressive all ins. The tournament structure at Morongo is an extremely fast structure. Since it's a rebuy, we only started with 800 chips and the blinds started at 25/50. The blinds then doubled every 15 minutes, making the whole tournament into a big luckfest. I ran QQ into KK after rebuying for 10 once then decided to quit.
Luckily the tournament offers a $20 coupon to anyone who bought the addon, so that made it a bit better. Yay $2 profit. You had to play for another hour of so to cash it in, so I sat down at the 1/3 again, mostly just wanting to cash in the coupon. I read Card Player from cover to cover in about an hour and half before sitting down to play again. I thought it was better I took a break to avoid any chance of tilt.
Apparently the table I sat down on was a jackpot, because the players were among the worst I've ever seen. The guy right on my left just lost two big pots and was on massive tilt. He pushed AI for $27 and I looked down at 55. I decided I'm perfectly willing to coinflip here and I raised to $60 go HU. I figured given our moderately late position the odds of someone showing up with a bigger pair wasn't very high. Right after raising, the guy on my left begins mumbling "Wow. How can I fold this hand? Wow. Ok I'm all in. $63 total." It folds back around to me and I obviously call another $3. The guy on my right shows me KJo, the guy on my left shows AKo. Then the players start talking.
Their comments
"Wow 55? Really?"
"I folded 77 to that action, I mean how can I call?", "
"I know I folded AJ."
"Hmm, sounds bad I folded a King. 55 is gonna win."
Sure enough the board bricks, and I take it down with unimproved 55.
Things are crazy from there on out.
I flop a straight on 8s6s4s flop and get it AI vs 33 no spade and win.
I flop a set of nines on a 6c9cJc flop get it AI vs J9 and AA no club, and lose to a rivered Jack.
I get JJ AI vs AKo preflop and lose.
I get 55 AI preflop again. This time vs A8 and AQ and they spike an Ace this time.
I flop two pair with 34d and get marginal action.
I end up 106 and with the $20 coupon (which is really only worth $10 since I rebought for $10 once), I recover 116 and and the day at a better -$84. I would actually have played longer but it was almost midnight now, and I promised them I would quit by midnight. I call Frank and he doesn't answer his phone. Figures. I look about the poker room and happen to watch something cool happen.
A guy just sat down at the table. He picks up TT, raises and another guy calls.
The flop is AA4, both players check. The turn is an Ace and the guy with TT bets small and gets called. He checks the 3c on the river and the other guy bets. He calls. He has AAATT beaten by AAAAJ. Suddenly, they realize they just hit the jackpot. Sadly they missed the double jackpot promotion by 7 minutes, but chopping up $15k for the table on a $100 max buyin isn't too bad.
I wander about the casino and finally find Frank, Justin and Andy eating. We leave and I don't get home till 3AM.
Frank lost about 80 or so.
Justin won 100 or something.
Andy lost an unknown amount.
I'll off for now. I promise to make a strategy post next, I have 3 started and none finished.
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