Progress Report #22 - Crazy game at the Hustler.

I sat down at 5/5 at the Hustler on Monday.


Here's a quick timeline

4pm - Let the games begin
Sit down at 6/12 limit hold'em while waiting for 5/5. I lose about a $100, which I'm still not sure if that's because I'm bad or ran bad. I'm not excellent at limit hold'em but my opponents seemed even worse. I moved to 5/5 and quickly won my money back and then some.

5pm - May the force be with you?
I'm up a few hundred dollars. Jerry (Seat 8) is getting heckled by the floor because he has assembled a unique structure (?) made out of his chips. I didn't see the issue, he knew exactly how much it was. I told him that if it came down to it, I would make sure to bet exactly $364 and he could just switch seats with me.



A closer inspection reveals Yoda is on top of his stack. No wonder he kept winning pots. Rob got a good laugh out of this one.

Yoda: Three of Diamonds on the river, the force tells me. Call you must!

Nothing special happens for a while, I steal a few pots from the tight pretty solid guy on my right. He is named Goran (?) and he is Serbian. Very nice guy, he's lived here for 18 years.

Two guys bust and another guy leaves, claiming the game is too tight. He left about 5 minutes too soon.

6PM: The game gets good.
I'm up about $500, and then two manaics sit down. A fish I've played with before sits down as well, and then an unknown sits down in seat 1. He quickly proves he's another fish.

Table breakdown.
Seat 1: Fishy unknown middle aged guy (FG)
Seat 2: Goran, solid tag, has about $1k in front of him.
Seat 3: Maniac 1 has tons of money. He is giving seat 6 money. Literally. He bought both of them in. (M1)
Seat 4: Me
Seat 5: uh.... Sorry forgot your name. Plays tight, and plays ok.
Seat 6: Maniac 2, also a station. He never folds, but also will go randomly aggro? Friends with seat 3. (M2)
Seat 7: Rock
Seat 8: Jerry at first, a rock replaces him later.
Seat 9: Fishy lady (FL)

Maniac 1 is playing 95/75/1
Maniac 2 is playing 85/20/0.5
Fishy lady is 60/5/0
Fishy unknown is 50/10/2.5

For those unused to stats, the first number means the percentage of hands they play. The second number is the number of hands they raise preflop, and the third number is aggression. Aggression is measured by the amount they bet and raise divided by how often they check and call. Generally an aggresion level of 3+ is considered aggresive, 1-3 is semi aggresive, and less than 1 is passive.

To give you an idea just how bad M1 and M2, M1 makes it $35 utg, M2 calls and then some others call.

The flop is 7d 6d 2d.

M2 bets $20, M1 raises to $200, M2 shoves for $600.

M2: I have two pairs. Again.

He always says he has two pairs.

M1: I can't fold. Even if you have two pairs.
Me: Do you even have a diamond?
M1 (with a sneer): Of course I do! CALL!

brick on turn and the Jd hits the river.

M2 tables 62o.
M1 tables 9d 3c

lololololololol

Yea, this is against each other, but they are doing it vs other people too.
M2 walks over to M1, and M1 gives him another $500.

7PM: I run so bad at life.

Up about $700 but not for long.

I straddle pick up 44, and check, taking the flop 6 way. It comes out 345r, and I check planning to check/raise fully expecting maniac 2 to bet. He obliges me by betting $20. Fishy lady calls, fishy unknown calls, Goran raises to $100. This suprised me. However, his raising range is very wide (relatively) because he can easily value raise A5, two pairs, sets both higher and lower, and even any pair + any straight draw, because there is a ton of dead money in the middle and his opponents play terribly. Maniac 1 makes it $500! I don't hesitate at all with my set of fours and jam $1,200 in the middle. Maybe John folds, but I kinda doubt it. I'll ask later.

If my play seems kind of crazy, please note that there were only 3 folds preflop and none on the flop... 8 way raised pots to the flop was standard for this game. We even had a 8 way reraised pot to the flop. While having 6 people see the flop means that it is more likely someone flopped a straight in an absolute sense, also realize that because they play so loosely, they also have a huge range of other hands they could have here.

Maniac 1 folds, Fishy lady calls off $500. Fishy unknown folds, Goran looks at me, double checks his hand and then mucks. M2 snap calls.

The turn is a 7d.
Fuck.

River is a blank Q.

M2 shows A6o
FL shows 64o.

I table 44 and frusteratedly reach in my pocket for 3 more white chips. ($100)


Not long after I get AA, reraise it to 90 preflop and get cold called by M2 in the BB, limp/called by FL, and called by M1.

Flop comes out Kd Qc Qd

Not exaclty stellar, but everyone checks to me on the button. I bet $150 and get called by M2 and FL who is all in. (she somehow lost like $400 in this time.)

M2 asks if I want to check down. I say no, since I assume I have him beat if he asks that.

M2: I have a queen.
Me: Really? Show me.
M2: OK.

And he shows me a Queen.

Me: ...... ok I check down.
The turn is a 4 and he immediately exclaims he made a full house.

Another 4 hits the river and M2 tables Q4o. FL tables QTo.

My aces hit the muck.

In the next BB I pick up 88, and jam for about $300 when there is about $150 of dead money in the middle. I get called in four spots (lol standard), and the flop comes out Ac 3c 3h.

FG shoves the flop for like 400.
M2: Wow I don't think you have it.

He hasn't been right even once so far.

M2: Sir, I don't think you realize how much of a gambler I am.
FG: What do you mean?
M2 turns over KQs.
M2: I am going to call you, I think.
FG: You are drawing to a backdoor if you call.
M2: I don't think you have it. I call.

FG flips over Ad Qh.

lol... as if he's bluffing into a protected pot, with 5 way action with anything less than a flush draw.

I have 88 with a club.
When the Tc hits the turn my hopes go up, as I now have a chance to win the pot with any 8 and any club.
River is a dream crusher and I'm on my way to the ATM.

I put out some phone calls and text messages to see if anyone can drive to the casino and lend me money in case I go broke. My max withdrawal limit on the ATM is $500, which is only 1 buyin.

Lucky for me I don't need it.

8PM: Goran is up to about $2k now.

I have finally figured out my game plan now. Make huge raises to iso the chip dumpers and take them to value town postflop with as little as Ace high. At this point, I feel like I developed strong enough reads of them that tell when they will call it off postflop. If 6+ people go to the flop, my ability to extract value is very limited as generally its been two pair+ winning hands.

I get KJo, and 3bet M1 to $100. M2 cold calls me anyways, and so does M1.

The flop is gin KK7r. M2 checks, M1 bets out $200, I jam for $200 more. M2 calls off his remaining $250, and M1 calls.

The turn is a 2 and the river is a Q.

M2 tables A3o, M1 tables A9o.

I scoop the $1250 pot.

Hey look I'm even on the night now. (just about)


I get QQ and stack MP2 by limping UTG when he straddles, and then reraising to $200. He calls, and then open shoves a 7 high flop with KJo. I hold up and add another $500 to my stack.

I limp ATo utg when he straddles again. This time he checks and hte flop goes 7 way. I value bet $55 on the Ace high flop and only get called by M2. I bet $150 on the turn, and $300 on the river and stack him too. It's kind of funny getting called when you have top pair basically no kicker and watching them instamuck and get shipped another buyin.

I finish off the night by straddling. I get A9s, and M1 makes it $50. I make it $150 and we go HU with about 800 more behind. Flop comes out Ad Js 7d. He checks and I value bet $240. He calls. The turn is another 7, which is an ugly card. He checks to me though, and my read is he would valuebet trips, so I fire another $300. He quickly calls.
The river is an 8c, and he checks again. I bet his remaining $270 or so, and he calls.

And disgustedly mucks when he sees my hand. lol

Other notable pots include when Goran limp/reraised with QJo when M1 just lost a big pot. I didn't like it personally since I thought M1 was folding 0% of the time. He drew out on 99.

Later he made quads kings and missed some value vs M1 by not just betting every street.

I thought Goran didn't adjust well for his opponents. Since they we're so crazy, it was just better to just play hands straight foward. He was kinda nitty, so it didn't suprise me much. While he was good for a 5/5 player, he wasn't amazing or anything. He's probably a solid winner in that game though.


I ended up cashing out with $3,900 which meant I won $2,600. Solid.
The floorman, Paul I think, asked me how much they dropped. I told him about $6-10k (I lost track, they reloaded so much)
Apparently our table had a waiting list over 20 people. So sick. I asked if Paul could call me if the 5/10 game at the Hustler ever runs. And to call me if those guys ever come back. He took my phone number. We'll see if I get to play some bigger local games now.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Progress Post #21 - Viva Las Vegas

I ran superrrrrrrrrrr hot.

In a nutshell.

Friday

+$540 @ 5/10 @ Venetian
+$780 @ 1/2 @ Venetian

Saturday
-$550 @ Venetian Tournament

-$1,080 @ Bellagio Tournament

+$485 @ 2/5 @ Venetian
+$975 @ 5/10 @ Venetian
+$2,520 @ 10/20 @ Bellagio

Sunday

+$1080 @ 5/10 @ Venetian

Net for Vegas: +$4,770

I ended up going out there with John earlier, since my classes ended earlier then group 2.

He sits down at 5/10 and I wander around trying to figure out how to sign up for a player's card.

A half hour later, and I'm sitting next to John and buying in for a dime. There is a huge fish on the table. He is absolutely terrible, playing nearly every hand, and putting tons of money in bad.

I end up putting all $1,800 I brought with me on the table. I lost $400 on a bluff, and the fish doubled up through me for another $700 or so when he rivered a straight vs my set.

I am around $660 when I get AKh. I make it $50 to go and get 3 callers. The flop comes out Kc Jh 8s. That's pretty good, so I bet $115. It folds to this lady who min checkraiseses me. I want to puke. That's basically never a bluff and most hands that are legit beat me. I had to call $115 more into a pot of over $500. I couldn't bring myself to fold for that amount when I had some backdoor draws and some chance, although small, that I could be good. The turn brings a 6h, she shoves, I snap now that I picked up a flush draw, and bang a 5h on the river. I roll over a flush as she shows a set of Jacks.

So sick. I'm so bad at this game.

If the river brings any non heart, I'm busto for the weekend in my first two hours.

I collect my chips and the rest of the day is pretty easy. I just run over the table and get money in good when the bigger bets go in. When I run decent, that's usually what happens. I book a solid win for the first session. John's up a few hundred as well, and with Winston finally getting here, the real fun begins.

While Bryce handles the room, I talk with Aki, Zack, Rob and Winston.

We all ended up splitting a suite and then we go to eat.

John and I heard at the table that the cafe at the Venetian is bomb, so we head over. Apparently they still have like a half hour wait at 11:30PM, so it has to be good. Zack and I head out and play some BJ while we wait. I ran bad and lost $25. Zack ran even worse and lost $200 and all he got out of it was a Jack and Coke.

Mike joins us and then we're finally we're set, so I order a jambalya, and grand mojito. It's pretty good. Zach suggests getting a tequila sunrise, which I liked a lot. I ended up getting two.

My portion of the bill was $50

X_X

Note to self. Get alcohol at the tables where it's free.

We head back to the room for a bit. Winston and Zack talk about going to a club, but I'm not really sure what happened. Somehow they dissapeared without me noticing. I tried to call them but they didnt pick up, so I just headed downstairs and played 1/2 with Rob.

wow. Just wow.
1/2 players are so bad it's unbelievable. I got bet/3bet on a AA8Q board with Q9o. He then check called his entire stack off on the river.

WTF. I get no respect.

I ended up running hot and winning like $800 at the 1/2 game.

The one thing I like alot about the Vegas games, is that the buyins are usually capped at 100bb+. This is good cause the games have more action, play deeper and tend to be more interesting.

On Saturday I play a $550 tourney at the Venetian. I bust in the second level, and walk over to the Bellagio and buy into the $1080 tourney. It only gets 27 people and mega fish from Venetian is on my table. I'm chip leader heading into the first break, but an hour later and I'm only above average. I get AKo make it 2.5bb UTG. UTG+1 shoves, and MP1 shoves over. I snap call because I KNOW MP1 doesn't have better than QQ. He rolls over JJ, and UTG+1 has A5o. Flop is Jxx and I'm drawing nearly dead. I push the next hand with A6c got called by QJ and get busted when he flops two pair. I head back over to the Venetian to hang out with the guys. We eat dinner, I grind out a buyin at 2/5 and 5/10, then I convince John to play 10/20 at the Bellagio.

We both sit down at 10/20 and John starts off by running good. He quickly wins 1-2k by just picking up good hands. I'm sitting around even when I flop trips with 35d. The guy on my left bets and I c/r. The turn gives me an OESD to go with my trips, and I bet out. He calls. The river is a 7 and I bang the straight. I bet out big, and he quickly calls. And he shows me a 3 and mucks.

John won a $8k pot with the nuts. He limped in with QTo, and the flop comes out Ah Kh Jc. Some lady bets out, then 3bets him, and then 5 bet shoves with JTh. John snapcalls obviously. The board runs out two bricks and he scoops. Man he runs good.
Afterwards, he thanks me for making him come to Bellagio. Hahahaha.

On Sunday, John and I play some more 5/10 and crush. Standard.


Since then I've been to Hustler (-810) and Commerce (-2300)

Giving it all back!

At the Commerce I made a really bad call.

Hand went down like this.

I am playing 10/20 and have about $3500-3700 in play. Villian covers.

CO limps in, and I have JTo. Normally I'd iso him, but I've been really active lately and John and the BB will 3bet me light. So, I just limped in.

The BB makes it $120, and the CO folds. I call with the button and take the flop heads up in position.

Kc Js Th

Pretty good flop for JTo.

He bets $180, and I make it $500.
He tanks and calls.

The turn is a mostly meaningless 7d. Only 98 improved and I really doubt he has 98 here.
He checks, and I bet out $800. He tanks and then SHOVES.

Lets examine what he could have.
He raised preflop in the big blind, so his hand range is weighted much stronger towards big cards. Most smaller hands would see a free flop.

Let's examine our equity.
Drawing dead vs KK, JJ.
2 outs vs TT.
3 outs vs KJ, JT, KT, although all of these are somewhat unlikely
4 outs vs AQ and Q9, but Q9 is very unlikely.

I beat AA and AK.
They have
2 outs to trips.
6 outs to two pair
4 outs to a straight.

I also beat KQ which has even more outs than AA.


Wow, I'm way behind or barely ahead. This is a great formula for mucking two pair.

Easy right? So, I make one of the worst calls of my life.

He rolls over KK and I'm drawing dead.



I stoved it when I got home...

Pokerstove says I have 45% equity!?

This is only true if he has every hand in his range with the same frequency. I don't think this is true for several reasons.

He might not raise KT, KJ, KQ, or JT preflop in the big blind.
He might not go broke on the turn with AA, AK or KQ.
He is never laying down a set, or AQ, which means his hand range is weighted towards hands that have me crushed.

Anyways long story short, play bad get there. Just not in this case.



I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce, (the donkey)

Progress Post #20 - A (degenerate) day at the Hustler Casino

I decided to go to the Hustler after class. I only had $160 on me, so I sat down at the $2/$5 game. Since it only has a $100-$300 buyin spread, I figured I could shortstack the game while doing some school work.

I lost it when my AA got cracked with K3d when he called 25% of his stack preflop. Nice play sir.

I go to the ATM and withdraw $500. I eat a $3 finance charge, which is kinda like w/e.

I get called for the $5/$5 game and I buy in for $500. I play O.K. not really good, and win about $110. I decide to then play the tournament.

It's a $100+$25 tournament with one optional rebuy. I decide to rebuy immediately and proceed to dump off 1/4 of my stack stupidly and lose another 1/4 from missing cards.

In the 3rd level, I get AKs, shove over a few limpers get called by AQo (who limped behind two other people on the button) and he spikes a Queen. GG NH.

I move back play 1 hand of 1-2 where I lose $25 with 88. I go back to 5-5 and buyin for $500.

I make a bad call with a flush draw on the turn and catch the river and double up to $1k.

I float around $1,000 for a while and then take a bad string of hand and dump $700 or so.

Hand #1. Call a river c/r with two pair. He has the nut straight obv. Lose $200.

Hand #2. Attempt a river bluff raise on a Ts7s7h 3d 3s board. He really almost folded and then said, "Ah whatever, if I lose this hand, I'll go home." He called with 3 X.

Hand #3. I squeeze a bunch of limpers with J7c on the button, get called by a mega fish in the BB. I flop nothing check it behind. On the turn I pick up a gutshot and flush draw, he checks I bet about half his stack, he shoves I instacall and he shows me a flopped full house.

At this point, I kind of stopped caring. I should've left, but instead felt like just gambling and losing the remainder of my money.

I ended up dumping chips to around $100, shoving with Q7o after I straddled, getting called by 99 and TT.

Flop - 7s Qs 9h in that order.
The dealer made it slow too.
Our table starting yelling and stuff. We built quite a crowd when the turn card hit.
Turn - 7d
At this point half the table thought I was ahead. Then someone point out his nines full still beat me.
I call for a queen on the river.
River - Q
And get it.

So sick.

I am kind of on a natural high. I am having so much fun at this point, that I just stopped caring. I made a huge raise with 52o and open shoved the flop and took it down.
Then I busted when I squeezed with A2o, and open shoved on a Q34 flop. I got instacalled by KQ and he held up.


Hahahahah... not my usual casino trip, but hey I enjoyed myself. I lost $700 though, I'll have to recoup that later. Still it's good to remember poker is still just about enjoyin myself when it comes down to it.

See you across the felt.
Bryce, the degen.

Monthly Report - August 2008

I get off the worst month of my life and come back for the best month of my life. Poker can be so sick.


Online Cash Games:
August: -$151.10
YTD: -$1,000.67


Onine Tournaments:
August: -$760.80
YTD: +$3,595.82


Live Cash Games:
August: +$5,215
YTD: +$8,364


Live Tournament Poker:
August: +$2,040
YTD: +$2,040


Net for poker:
August: +$6,343.10
YTD: +$12,799.15

Stakes: -$100
SK you fail.

August: -$100
YTD: -$2,236.81

(Cake is counted as negative)

Total Net for the month: +$7,243.10

YTD: +$10,762.34

I'm also going to keep track of my expenses for tax write offs. That's mostly going to be traveling expenses, but also for whatever else comes up.

Expenses:
5 Roundtrips to Morongo

Comments on August: I ran pretty hot at Morongo. My previous post describes most of that. I feel like I played well. I still can't cash in any tournaments online. I haven't played much cash game poker, in September I plan to play a lot more both live and online.


I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Progress Post #19 - Saying goodbye and thanks to Morongo

Happy Birthday to me. I turned 21 today. Winston and a few other guys came over and we played beer pong. The idea was to go out to bars and maybe play drunken poker but that never happened. We're all going to Vegas for Winston's 21st in a week anyways, so we can do that there.

Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who wished me a happy birthday.

Since I'm now 21, I don't really have much of a reason to go to Morongo anymore. I'll probably be heading to Hollywood Park and Commerce and the Bike instead.

So it's time to recap August.

August was good to me. Good thing too, since July sucked hardcore.

I didn't play a lot of online poker, but I went to Morongo practically non-stop. I had some huge days there.

I came up nearly everytime I went. I ran pretty good. There were running a promotion for full houses. If you got 5 full houses in the month you were entered in a triple shootout freeroll.

I had 3 stamps by the time I played the tourney.

I went on Friday and played a $160 buyin. I got 3rd and cashed for $3,000.
Wow just wow. Live tournaments are so soft. They didn't have the slightest understanding of M, or how stack sizes effect your play. They didn't understand blind stealing or isolation. I couldn't even resteal! They weren't stealing in the first place! I'm gonna play more live tourneys. There is just so much equity in them. Then again I hear Morongo is much softer than other live games, so I dunno.

I had an interesting experience in the tournament.
Only the final table cashed and when I made the final table there was talk about a chop. I was 8th or 9th in chips, so an even chop sounded great to me. $2,000 each was basically 4th place prize money for everyone. The chip leader didn't want to chop so we began play. To be expected. But this is where it got interesting. In the first 5 hands he goes from chip leader to shortest stack. The blinds are absolutely huge. Even the chip leader has less than 20bb. Most shortstacks have 5 or less. Yet almost no one has opened their hand range and shoved lighter.

When I'm utg, the blind level is almost up, and the once chip leader asks how long he can just sit there to run the clock. It's quite the asshole move, although to be fair it's perfectly legal. The floorman gives him 1 minute, and with 45 seconds before the blinds go up that's all he needs. The blinds go up on me reducing me to a 3bb stack. And I get a walk. I keep shoving to pick up the huge blinds and eventually get up to 3rd in chips. I keep my stack and and recover as the previous chip leader goes on a tear and doubles up then busts 4 people to regain the lead. I bust two guys myself when I iso a guy with 0.5bb with K5o and win the dead money on the side and then spike a King to suck out on his TT. I take out another shorty on a legit coinflip with AQ vs 88.

Eventually we go 3 handed, and the chip leader only has 7bb at this point. I just keep shoving it in but I run K9s into AJd and he holds up. GG.

I play a little live poker and mostly break even. I get a stamp though.


I went back again on Saturday with John. I was talking to him and our conversation went something like this.

"Want to go to Morongo tomorrow?"

"I just got back from Morongo."

"So?"

"Ok you talked me into it."

John came up like $300 or something. We were both playing 2-5 all night.
We played $1/$3 and dropped a quick 100 each. That game is so stupid.

I moved to $2/$5 and immediately flopped a set, stacked a shortstack KQs vs AJo preflop. Is there any wonder why I like $2/$5 so much?

Oh and I banged a straight flush on the turn vs a set for my 5th stamp. The quest for stamps was ended. I was entered in the freeroll for the following Monday.

Nothing happens for a long time. I try to run a bluff vs John, he instacalls me with a straight. Hm. Ok that's like the top of his range. Still I learned something about board texture when we talked about it.

I was up like $500-600 for like the entire night and finally at 4AM, I picked up JJ.

Terrible Lady limps in.
Old(er) guy, who seems half decent limps in.
Kid limps in.
John limps in.
I make it $50 with JJ in the SB. I figure I'm kinda turning my hand faceup vs John, but the rest of them are bad enough at hand reading that I think it's ok. I like to raise more with my more vulnerable hands like QQ-88, AK, AQ. It's tough playing these hands OOP a lot of the time, so I'd like to force my opponents to pay more in order to play against me there.
I'd probably raise less with AKs, KQs, KK, AA, and other drawy type hands since I don't mind going multiway as much.

Anyways, the lady calls, the old guy calls, kid calls and John folds.

Flop is 8d 8c 4d.
Pot is $205.

I check.
It was a pretty weird play. I usually bet in this spot close to 100% of the time, but for some reason I decided to get tricky not really sure why. My plan was to c/shove over lady and kid, but I wasn't sure what to do vs old guy since he had me covered. I had about $1150 behind still after my preflop raise, so we were pretty deepstacked.


Lady checks and the old guy bets $220 or $230. I can't remember exactly. The kid folds, and it's on me.

I remember thinking, "Man, that's a weird bet. It's more than the pot but not much more. Why overbet here?"
Protection seemed most obvious. I thought he had a vulnerable hand here. I thought an 8 was unlikely and that combo draws might make sense. I didn't think he would overbet with 44 or an 8. I thought A4 or 55+ made the most sense to me. I think he raises QQ+ preflop, or would've limp reraised it. Furthermore some live players overbet with their strong one pair hands in order to price out draws and to try and take it down there. I don't get their logic, but if they do it, I'll have to take it into account.

Still to be honest, my thought process isn't really that clear when I play. I go more with a hmm, this seems right and do it. I want to believe that my instincts are really just my subconscious running and saying based on past experiences this is right.

Eventually I decide to c/r to $500. This is definitely a weird play and John says he hates it cause I'm overrepping my hands. That is definitely true, since this play looks like AA or maybe Ad Kd. I dunno, I just thought I had the best hand and my play looked so unusual he might pay me off with worse.

The lady folds and the guy instantly says all in.
A few curses tumble out of my mouth, and then I gather some composure and start to count the pot.
I announce to the table, I'm priced in to call, so I do.

The board runs out a diamond on the turn and a blank on the river.
I'm about to muck my hand when he tables 99.

I am shocked. So is John.

I scoop the $2,400 pot tip $15, and then get ready to go. Jiar busted his buyin a while ago and has been waiting for us. I hate to hit and run, but gotta do what ya gotta do.
I decided to open a deposit box while I was there. I should've thought of that ages ago.


I come back yet again on Monday.
I quickly bust in my triple shootout. I run AQ into AK in a low blind situation in a tourney. W/E standard. I move to the cash games.

This time there are a bunch of regs there. I notice Cowboy is sitting in his usual seat, but it isn't a $2/$5 game being spread there. I ask the board what's up. Apparently table 2 is a $10/$20 game today because table 2 hit a jackpot.

Wow. I've never seen that before. I ask to be put on the waitlist for $10/$20 and $2/$5 while I run to the cage and get the $1,500 I stored there from last time.

I call John and ask his opinion on what I should play. He thinks I should play $2/$5 until I hit like $2000 - $2500 and then move. I thank him for his advice and sit at $2/$5 when my name is called. I get up to $1800 pretty fast. Then my name is called for $10/$20. Decision time.

I pick up my chips and sit down with a bunch of guys I know.
Most of the stacks are $5,000 deep or more.
Sounds good to me. Game on.

I steal a few pots early and run up to about $2,300. I lose one medium smallish pot and am down to $2,000. All standard stuff. Cowboy leaves, and I'm feeling pretty good about my table now. Only Brandon (a chip runner for Morongo) is really a threat, and he's pretty tight so I don't have to worry about it to much. Craig is whining about me as usual, and he does some really bad etiquette stuff, like berating the dealers for giving him bad cards, and digging my mucked cards out and looking at them. That last one is really bad, and I probably could've gotten him kicked out if I felt like it. Still he was dead money, so I just let him do whatever.

Eventually the big hand of my night comes up. I get 66 and limp in behind 2 other guys. Brandon limps on the button behind me and both blinds complete/check.

Flop is 6 handed (lol), and its Ad 6s 3s.

Don't you know how to win at poker? Flop more sets.

It's checked to be and I bet $60. Brandon makes it $220.
Folds around to one lady who check/flatcalls the raise lol.

I think for a bit. Brandon is probably only raising two pair+ and big draws. I don't really have any reason to slowplay, and any raise is commiting me anyways.
So I shove for $1,785 more.

Brandon thinks for a second and looks taken aback. He double checks his hand and says "I call." as he moves a stack of blacks across the line.

Music to my ears. His lack of hesitation means I have him drawing to 1-4 outs.

He asks if I have a flush draw. I tell him I have a set. He just shakes his head as the dealer runs out two more spades. (good thing he didn't have As3x or As6x)

He shows 33 I show 66 and scoop a $4,100 pot.

I stick around for a while more and stack some donkey who calls my 3barrel with middle pair. I show him two pair.

Brandon leaves, and another guys quits so the table breaks. I walk out with $3,500.
Sick night


I come back one more time on labor day to get the $2,000 I have on deposit and lose $600.

I also play 10 HU matches wtih Jeff for $100 each. I lose 9.

It's been quite an adventure out in Cabazon. I'm never gonna forget it.

Goodbye Morongo.

And next week?

Hello Las Vegas~


I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce