The Vegas Experiment

A Good Start To The New Year

2010-01-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's been quite some time since I've posted. I'm sure like me, the holiday season is a hectic time for all of you as well. As such, while I did get some play in I didn't get the opportunity to post. We spent Christmas Eve and night at Paris LV in a comped room which was nice and I picked up some Tiffany pearls for Rebecca for Christmas which I think made her happy. After New Year's Rebecca had a friend in town who just left a couple days ago. Now that this period is over it's time to get serious about my game and start treating this like the livelihood it is for me. My master's is done (though still waiting on my grade on my final project and the word from my advisor that I am eligible to walk in May,) so I now have a clear conscience to go out and make my living on the felts of LV. Had a nice start to the new year yesterday with a solid win. I made a good score early in the session and had that urge to get up with almost a day's take (for me a day's take is $200 as hypothetically that would amount to a $50,000 a year salary.) However, I am doing my best to fight that impulse and just play hours instead of tracking wins and losses throughout a session. I was kicking myself a couple hours later when I gave back my of my winnings. However, I am glad I did sit tight and just play as table dynamics change rather quickly at MGM. I ended up dragging two nice pots before I called it a day and took home $238 for my troubles. In order to get past the idea that I am up or down a certain amount, I decided to make two large stacks of checks and just continue to add to them as I picked up pots. This way, I had no idea how much I was up and could just focus on the game and on making the best plays available to me given the situation.

One unique situation came up that I want to throw out there for thought and any discussion or feedback it may generate. UTG I picked up wired 7s and limped as I like to do with any pocket pair from any position. Multiple callers around to the BB who is a loose/aggro type kid who pumps it to $12. I look at his stack and also factor in that if I call I will entice others to come along and decide to make the caller. Two others call and the pot now has about $50 in it. The flop comes down 6-5-3 with two hearts. The BB bets out $15. I am next to act and with position I decide I want to play him heads up as I think I can out play him if any heart comes, if any non picture comes, or of course if I hit my gutter. I decide to reraise and make it $40 to go ($25 on top of his $15.) The middle position caller folds and a loose/aggro Asian guy in late position moves all in which amounted to $14 on top of my raise. The original raiser folds and I am forced to call getting about 10.5 - 1. I table my over pair and gutshot and he shows a 3-4 offsuit for a pair and straight draw. Two bricks later and I pick up the $170 pot with just a pair of 7s. Funny how things work out some time. I'm just happy that he didn't have more behind. Not sure how he would have played if he did since I was fairly deep as well.

Anyway, it's good to be back after some rest and relaxation over the holidays. These next couple months I am looking to grind hard and really build my bankroll up. I'd like to make the progression to $1/$3 NLHE and move either over to Aria, Caesar's, or the Wynn where the games play a bit bigger. Or, move up to a $1/$2 room like Venetian that has a $300 max buy and a $100 min. The stacks can be short at MGM but I truly believe the relatively poor play overall makes that a bit of a wash. As I play more and more and obtain additional valuable experience I think I'll better be able to comment on that.

All the best to everyone out there for a happy, healthy, and successful new year. Live right, tell your mom you love her, help old ladies across the street, hold doors for people behind you when entering a building, merge in traffic properly, and all that jazz and I pray we all reap what we have sewn.

Oh, and my advice for the coming year and beyond. Invest in gold and other precious metals.

Hours Played From 12/9/09 through 1/6/10: 37.07
Take: $677
Hourly Rate During Period: $18.26

Earn:
Month to Date For December: $1,074
Take For 2009: $2,479
Hourly Rate Year Life Time (Includes Some Limit Hold'em Play:) $14.11
Hourly Rate Life Time NLHE: $18.84
Total Hours Played 2009: 176.63
Total Hours Played Life Time: 181.25
Sessions Played: 47
Win/Loss Record by Session: 29/14 67.44.% win rate

*Note: The total sessions played and the win/loss totals do not add up to each other. The figures are taken from Stat King and most likely the program disregards small wins and losses as insignificant; hence the discrepancy.*

A Grand Old Time

2009-12-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

MGM Grand:
Played a typical day time type session at MGM. I like when I get lucky and get seated at a brand new table. Usually I'll find one or two "producers" in a brand new game as opposed to a game that has been going for a while. Reason being, the "producers" have all gone bust by the time a game is an hour or two old. This is not to say such a player may not stumble into a game when an open seat arises. The likelihood, however, of having more than one really soft spot in the game goes way down when a game has been going for a while. As luck would have it, I got to the card room just before 3 pm and got seated in a game just opening up. After a couple of orbits I could tell there were several really soft spots that I was going to look to capitalize on. Alas, I only grinded out about a $60 profit by the time they either went broke or racked up. I did later get a bunch of chips from a lady who appeared to be a tight-passive player. I picked up AK in the big blind and was the only one to call her UTG raise. If she understands her hand values, raising UTG should require a big hand. The flop came down king high and I checked it to her to see her response. She bet out $10 and I called. The turn brought and ace. I actually didn't much like this card because while it gave me top two, it could kill the action as well if the card scared her. I was really hoping she had a hand like AQ but I am not sure she would have continuation bet. She didn't seem like the type and why for so little. In any event, I checked it again because I wanted to see if she would bet the ace and for how much. Again she bet $10. I took a moment and check-raised her $20 more on top. She called me after a small bit of hesitation. The river brought a rag and I bet out $50. I figured if she flatted me we had the same hand and if she raised me then she had one of two sets. If she had decided to push over the top of my bet I think I might have laid my hand down. At best I'd be drawing at half the pot. Goes to show the power of position and what table image can do for you. She mucked immediately and I am still not sure what she called my check-raise with. Pocket queens maybe. Lots of bad tight players will hold onto pocket pairs they know are beat until the bitter end. They wait around so long for the premiums that they just don't know how to release them when the situation dictates it. Anyway, that was the most memorable hand of the day other than the guy earlier in the session who sat down and after three hands started pushing in preflop blind. He pretty much got stacked when someone picked up rockets. This left him with $24 in front and he once again moved in on the next hand. It was folded around to me in the big blind and I looked down at KTs in spades and decided to take a flyer since my hand figured to be better than a random hand. When we turned the cards over I indeed did have the best of it has he tabled a Q8o. Of course the door card is the queen but justice was served as I went runner-runner to a ten high straight. I didn't mind gambling with the guy in that spot as I will most times have the best of it. Plus it's good for table image and the like. Long Island Mike came by the card room and was seated at my table. We played together for about 90 minutes before the last of the donators went and found a rack. That was my queue to rack up as well. Mike told me about a promotion going on at Monte Carlo where you need to accumulate 15 hours of play by next Friday and in return the house is having a 15k free roll that Saturday. So, we headed on over...

Monte Carlo
...and there was only one game going. Mike joined me in the food court where I got the advertised $5 foot long meatball sub from Subway for $10 (gotta love casinos.) After scarfing that down we went back to the card room and put our names on the list. After about ten minutes the floor informs us they are starting a new game. Great! You just read about my love for new games. Well, this one sucked. Right from the jump the we were short handed and people were chopping. We finally got to a full ring but even so the pots were small and the only way to get any value out of hand was to play small ball and hope to not get drawn out on as you make what amount to value bets on each street when you think you're ahead. I ended up giving back an inconsequential amount before we both grew tired of the nittiness. I won the last post with KQ high after all streets were checked. I knew it was time to check out. We headed back to the MGM where Mike sat in a new game and I headed for the exit. I did pick up this cool chip while at Monte Carlo. However, I do not recommend Diablo's Cantina next time you are in town. It
is an overpriced tourist trap in my humble opinion. Wifey and I have gone before to see the local hard rock band Otherwise play there. Good little bar venue as you are right on top of the stage, but paying $7 for a bottle of beer that I could get a six pack of at the local liquor store is just dumb. Anyway, here's a pic of the chip:

12/8
MGM Grand
Hours Played: 4.33 hours
Take: $174

Monte Carlo
Hours Played: 1.75
Gave: -$16

Earn:
Month to Date: $397
Year to Date: $1,643
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $11.77
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 139.56
Sessions Played Year to Date: 36
Win/Loss Record by Session: 21/12 63.64% win rate

I'm Finally Finshed....So Let's Get Started

2009-12-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Well, barring any unforeseen hangups with the submission of my capstone project for my master's degree, I should have the diploma dated with a December graduation date. I spoke with my advisor and she is currently reviewing and grading my work. I've already received, completed, and mailed back my application for graduation. So, keep your fingers crossed that I don't take a bad beat on this one and have to revise my project which will push my graduation date to this coming May. I plan on walking in the ceremony come May as I think my parents deserve the photo op. This has been a long time coming for me and I am sure they are very proud. When we attended Rebecca's graduation ceremony where she received her doctorate, my parents attended and I know they were proud of her. I want them to have the same sort of experience with me, and also have Rebecca's parents down for the event. I should also be graduating with honors which is something I never really dreamed I would ever do. It will be an achievement nobody can take away from me and it is a source of deep pride as I know all the hard work and long hours it took to achieve it. As Stephen Covey states in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, personal victories before public victories. Each course was a personal victory for me as I achieved high marks and the commencement ceremony will be my public victory. I think these small personal victories are also relevant to life on the felt. Each correct read, each proper value bet, each tough fold add to your personal victories. At the end of the month or the year when you add up your sessions and show a significant win for your time, that is the public victory you can share with others should you choose to.

So, I've been working on getting back into the flow of things and the hours required to be successful at this racket. I've also begun to stretch out my sessions and play later into the evening as a way of getting Rebecca used to what is surely to come; 8 - 12 hour days of sessions that run into the wee hours. I didn't think it was right for me to jump right into that lifestyle, for Rebecca's sake as well as the sake of my bankroll. Concentration at the table is just like any other acquired skill, it takes practice to get good at it. One of my biggest edges I have right now is the fact that I don't tilt as often or as hard as most of my opponents. I feel like I start to lose that edge once the session starts to go over six hours or so. I'm thinking of working 4 - 6 hours at a time and then taking a break of an hour or so. The day games at MGM are beatable from what I've experienced thus far so I may work on a schedule where I play there until mid evening, come home and spend some time with Rebecca, then head back out to South Point which is almost within walking distance of our condo complex. I don't know how the games are there, but even if I can grind out another $10 an hour it will be worth my time as I am getting hours and experience in. OK, well tomorrow I will start back with my daily reports from the felt.

As Worm said in an overly quoted movie on this blog, "Hey, at least you're rounding again. You're gonna thank me for that some day."

11/17 - 12/7
Hours Played: 37.92 hours
Take: $813
$ Per Hour: $21.44

Earn:
November: $574
December Month to Date: $239
Year to Date: $1,485
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $11.13
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 133.48
Sessions Played Year to Date: 34
Win/Loss Record by Session: 20/12 62.50% win rate

A Chilly Kind of Session

2009-09-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

It was a cooler kind of day, or should I say night, out here in the desert for yesterday. I'm in a rush and will briefly describe the two pivotal hands that made me a loser on the night. In a straddled pot by the table bully, UTG raises to $15. Another early position players and it's folded around to me in later middle position. I look down at wired 4's and really want to see a flop since if I spike my set I could be in for a big payday. It's folded around to straddle man and he calls the additional $11 and four of us take a flop of 3-4-7 with two diamonds. The straddler checks, the original raiser bets out $25 and the player between us folds. I flopped middle set and a not very scary board and decide to raise it to $75 which is 3x his bet and $50 back to him. I assume the straddler will fold and we will play the pot heads up. To my surprise the straddler check raises all in and the early player mucks. I call as he is capable of making this play with any pocket pair higher than 7's, any two pair, along with hands that beat me. Plus he could be pushing his draw hard if he has something like a flush draw and straight draw combined. However, I did ask him to show me his 56 for the made straight as I called and sure enough he obliged my request. With no improvement on the turn and river I was down a buy in.

A couple hours later after grinding my 2nd buy in up to about $300 I pick up pocket kings in the big blind. It's limped in almost every spot and I make it $17 to go. I only get one caller, an older gentleman who recently sat down that I didn't have much of a read on. I got the sense that he felt I was just trying to pick up all the limps with my raise. He seemed like the kind of guy that disliked younger, aggressive players. The flop came down 2-5-9 rainbow and I bet out $30. He proceeded to min raise me to $60. The min raise can mean one of two things. It's either a weak attempt to get a bluffer to muck his hand or it means a very strong hand that wants action. I went with my gut feeling that he was trying to take the pot away from me. I already had it planned out that if he made a play at me on the flop I was going to push over him. When he insta-called I asked him whether his set was 5's or 9's; he showed me the deuces. Again, I have no luck when it comes to sucking out and most of my stack was wiped out.

So, as we can see, when the pivotal hands go against you it can make for a rough session. Still, I was proud of myself for keeping my head and not letting the coolers get to me. I will give the older gentleman credit, he played his hand much the same way I would have if the roles were reversed. I wonder if he would have been able to not get all in if the shoe was on the other foot. My inclination is no using Tommy Angelo's idea of reciprocal money, this one was a wash. If you're unfamiliar with Tommy's writings I suggest you check out his website at http://www.tommyangelo.com. The dude is a funny, witty genius.

9/9
Hours Played This Session: 4.66 hours
Gave: -$292
$ Per Hour: -$62.66

Earn:
Month to Date: -$171
Year to Date: $672
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $7.03
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 95.56
Sessions Played Year to Date: 22
Win/Loss Record by Session:13/9 6.00% win rate

A Quick Recap Of The Past Several Weeks

2009-09-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted and I don't really recall of the particulars to each of the sessions I've played. So, rather than struggle to come up with material, I am simply posting my results for the past couple weeks. For the most part I've been running good and playing pretty well to boot. Still need to focus on picking up my number of hours of play and coming up with a schedule that promotes playing a high number of hours along with a balanced home life. I'll keep working on it.

8/24
Bellagio (4 pm - 7 pm)
Hours Played This Session: 2.66
Take: $166
$ Per Hour: $62.41

Bally's Las Vegas (9:15 pm - 11:30 pm)
Hours Played This Session: 2.25
Take: $70
$ Per Hour: $31.11

Earn:
Month to Date: $737
Year to Date: $588
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $7.76
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 75.74
Sessions Played Year to Date: 17
Win/Loss Record by Session:10/7 58.82% win rate

8/30
Harrah's Las Vegas
Hours Played This Session: 2.55 hours
Take: $255
$ Per Hour: $100.00

Earn:
Month to Date: $992
Year to Date: $843
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $10.81
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 77.99
Sessions Played Year to Date: 18
Win/Loss Record by Session:11/7 61.11% win rate

9/2
MGM Grand
Hours Played This Session: 5.66 hours
Take: $202
$ Per Hour: $35.69

Earn:
Month to Date: $202
Year to Date: $1,045
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $12.49
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 83.65
Sessions Played Year to Date: 19
Win/Loss Record by Session:12/7 63.16% win rate

9/7
The M Resort
Hours Played This Session: 4.25 hours
Gave: $232
$ Per Hour: -$54.59

Earn:
Month to Date: -$30
Year to Date: $813
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $9.25
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 87.90
Sessions Played Year to Date: 20
Win/Loss Record by Session:12/8 60.00% win rate

9/8
MGM Grand
Hours Played This Session: 3.00 hours
Take: $151
$ Per Hour: $50.33

Earn:
Month to Date: $121
Year to Date: $964
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $10.61
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 90.90
Sessions Played Year to Date: 21
Win/Loss Record by Session:13/8 6.00% win rate

TI Treasure Trove

2009-08-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Decided to try Treasure Island as have heard that this room has lots of action. They spread a $1/$3 no limit game instead of the traditional $1/$2. Doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it does increase the average opening raise somewhat. When I got there only one table was going. Got in the action in about 15 minutes and was not disappointed. The game was actually loose/fairly aggressive with lots of chips in the center pre-flop. Most players were playing relatively deep (majority were sitting on stacks around the $300 max buy) which is how I love to play since I know if I can get my stack in the center I will be doubling through them should I win the hand. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pick up many stackable hands (suited connectors and small pairs) and when I did I completely missed the flop. I did see one of my opponents pull of a move I would have liked to have done. He took the 75s in diamonds, flopped two pair to the raiser, and got all his chips in on the flop to the raiser's over pair. The board did not counterfeit him nor did his opponent catch a miracle to make a set and he stacked him with those beautiful little cards.

Anyway, the only hand worth mentioning came during one of the many straddles that were being put on for $6. I was in late-middle position, with an open limper directly to my right. With $19 in the pot (the $1 small blind, the $3 big blind, the $6 live straddle, and the $6 limper) I decided to make a play for the pot with KQ0 and raised it up to $25 to go. I got called by the small blind who was a loose British lad, the loose kid who put the straddle on called, and the limper who was a local folded. I had seen him fold pre-flop prior to a large raise and that was part of my plan going in when I made the play. I thought for sure the plan had back fired with an ace and a jack came down on the flop. With position on both players they checked to me. I bet out $60 as continuation bet thinking I am either going to get called or check raised with those two big cards out there. But I still felt it would be hard for them to put me on a hand that did not hit that flop and I needed to represent a hand like AK since there was so much money out there. Thankfully, both players folded to my raise and I took down the pot with nothing more than a gutshot straight draw. I was playing 4 outs but at least they were to the nuts as the board was a rainbow. Now that is the true definition of a semi-bluff. After a couple of calling stations busted from the table I decided I really didn't want to tangle with the loose aggro's that were left. Taking a small win I headed over to The Mirage where I checked out the games. Long Island Mike was along with me for the TI adventure and he pulled a nice pot from the Brit when his top pair, top kicker was good enough. He bet throughout the hand, got called on every round, and when he showed down big slick, the Brit mucked. There were draws to Broadway on the board by the river and I thought for sure it would have taken at least 2 pair to win that hand. My guess is the Brit had a pair and picked up a straight draw on the turn but the river never got there. LI only had about $80 on the river when he moved in and I suspect the Brit had a hand like KJ where he picked up an open ended straight draw with the queen that fell on the turn as the flop contained a king and a ten and felt like the price was right to make a crying call as the pot contained well over $300.

After surveying the action at Mirage, we decided to grab a couple beers, recap the action, and just chat about his newly acquired diamond status. It was a quick session for me and I should have probably sat in a game at Mirage, but I really wanted to share in the reflected glory of Mike's nice sized take for the day which was over $300. It doesn't sound like much when read the stories about the stakes some people play for, but for us it is substantial. If either of us could average a daily take of $300 we'd be living pretty sweet and would be able to move up to $2/$5
no limit rather quickly. Alas, neither of us are on this kind of clip yet.

I'd like to try this game again soon, but in the meantime I'd like to grind my bankroll up some. I'm paying my bills out of my bank account right now and I am hoping this is the last month I'll be doing so. I am almost at the point where my cash on hand is enough to finance my play with the remainder of my bankroll safely tucked away in my bank account. I play so much better when I know I have several buy ins on me if things don't go well early in a session.

8/19
Hours Played This Session: 2.25
Take: $64
$ Per Hour: $28.44

Earn:
Month to Date: $501.00
Year to Date: $352
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $4.97
Total Hours Played Year to Date:70.83
Sessions Played Year to Date: 15
Win/Loss Record by Session: 8/7 53.33% win rate

Thought of the Week 8/15 - 8/21: Am I Compulsive?

2009-08-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

AM I COMPULSIVE?

Good Question and one that I've been thinking about for some time now. According to Dictionary.com the definition of compulsive is:

–noun

Psychology. a person whose behavior is governed by a compulsion.

Ok, that wasn't too insightful, let's try this again by delving into the meaning of compulsion:

–noun

Psychology. a strong, usually irresistible impulse to perform an act, esp. one that is irrational or contrary to one's will.

Good, now we're getting somewhere. Some might say that my need to make a living by playing poker would be good a representation of the psychological definition of compulsion. But honestly that's not what's on my mind today as I sit down to write this column. And maybe, just maybe, the fact that I am not considering what I do for a living, though it is highly irrational and most likely contrary to at least the good will of my life when I talk about my compulsive behaviors might sum it up.

Ahh, but I digress. If you stumbled upon my last thought of the week (albeit it was two weeks ago - so much for the title of the column) you will see that I am working on self actualization and becoming a better human being and all that kind of stuff. And believe you me, I need to be working on living a better life. And that's what got me to thinking about being compulsive. See, ever since I got here to Vegas, I have kind of let myself slip into some very bad and destructive habits. Especially with my consumption of alcohol. And my consumption became compulsive, much like it did when I lived in Orlando, FL for 9 months. I moved down there right after I finished my undergrad degree and I really fell off the deep end. Moving away from home a second time and reaching the same result made me realize that I have this self destruct gene hiding somewhere in me. And when my life lacks structure, that demon likes to slowly poke his head out and go on to consume my life. I honestly think I don't have a drinking problem, but I'm sure 99.99% of problem drinkers feel that way. I think my problem stems back to feelings of self worth and symptoms of depression. Things I really don't want to delve into here and now, I just reference them for the basis why I repeatedly have self destructed. And if that is one form of compulsion, then I figured there must be a flip side to it as well.

I go through these spurts in life where I just degen it up for a period of time and then I totally flip the script and start living life the way I really feel it should be lived. I've entered that period in my life once again. As I sit here and write this today, I have achieved my daily goals for the past 3 days of working out. Sounds silly and simple but believe me when you go from drinking almost every day to putting the stuff down, not thinking about, and having most of your waking thoughts consumed by planning your training sessions it's like I've gone through an exorcism of sorts. I make it sound more dramatic than what it actually is, but I'm a writer so deal with it. I need to use imagery every now and then God damnit. Anyway, I'm like totally addicted to working out now. I went through this stage about 2 years back when I signed on to manage a small gym in Bellmawr, NJ and went on to get into maybe the best shape of my life. Rebecca deserves that guy back in her life, so I am going to use my compulsion for good not evil and hopefully with the support and backing of my friends I'll be able to walk the line.

An added bonus is I feel so much better about myself and it will reflect in my play. When you build self confidence, it transcends the gym. I know I will begin to trust my reads more and have the follow through to make a risky play when I believe it is the right time to do so. Also, being in better shape with help with my stamina and mental focus. In essence, this should help my career. At the very least, in a couple of months I'll be able to sit by the pool and look good while doing so.

Oh, did I mention I weighed in at 195.8 lbs yesterday. I should be at 165 lbs for my height and build. Guess I got a lot of work to do. I'll keep you up to date on my progress and I am now accountable to all of you that read this. Feel free to kick me in the ass when I slack and slap me on the back when the boy done good.

Power Poker

2009-08-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

Or, this should be more aptly titled, "Find Two Good Cards and Push Pre-Flop Against Weak Opponents." Honestly, my play was not more complicated than that. I only won 3 hands this session. Long Island Mike and I decided to meet up and play an evening session together. Originally I wanted MGM as I haven't played there since making my return to poker but he convinced me that we should play Bally's. I like playing the Harrah's rooms in general since they award 28 tier credit points plus the industry standard of $1 an hour towards food and beverage. LI is almost at diamond card status so I will be mooching off him from here on out as I will be his sidekick when he goes into the diamond club lounge. I like the idea of getting free beverages and munchies courtesy of Caesar's Entertainment or whatever Harrah's is calling itself this year.

When we get to Bally's 3 tables of $1/$2 NL are going and LI puts on his radar and finds what he thinks is the best of the 3 tables that just also so happens to have two empty seats in it. In the first hand I play after folding for about 4 orbits straight, I actually decide to get cheeky and I make a small $7 raise under the gun with KJs in diamonds. While being out of position, I really like big suited cards in NL. KJ is a hand I actually hate, but I feel like if I get the multi-way pot that I suspect I will I can turn it into a moneymaker with the right flop. I get 4 callers and the flop comes down ace high with two diamonds. I really like this flop since I am sure one of my opponents will have spiked the ace. I make a continuation bet of $15 (with the hope of disguising my hand should a diamond fall on the turn) and get called in one spot. A beautiful diamond falls on the turn and with the ace of diamonds out I am holding the nuts. First to act I bet out $30 really believing my opponent can not put me on the diamond draw. I guess between the the diamonds being out there along with a probable shitty kicker to go with his ace he decided he was beat and mucked. My really tight image I'm sure didn't help either. I decided to bet out as oppose to check the flush on the turn because I watch too many players make that play, they get checked behind, and then have to bet out on the river and then their opponent releases his hand. I like to set up the hand so that when an opponent looks back on it he can't figure out where he was supposed to get away from it. Didn't happen this time, but I'm pretty sure it's the better of the two plays since you can disguise your hand by betting the whole way. Against a timid player this also makes for a good semi-bluff on the flop because now you are betting with an additional 9 outs. If the flush card comes, you can bet a decent size (say half the pot) and get that weak player to fold.

In the second hand, I am again UTG and look down at AKs in clubs. This time I raise to $12 and a drunk lady two seats to my left who has been spewing chips all night from what I gathered (she recently sat back down after being away from the table for half an hour presumably in her hotel room or at an ATM getting more cash) re-raised me to about $50 to go which set her all in. This folds out all the other players and I make the call. She tables KQo and I have the best of it going to the flop. Neither of us improve our hands and I take down a decent pot. I'm feeling pretty good about the line up we have at the table and about an hour later I pick up wired kings again in early position. I raise to $12 and it gets folded around to a late position player who makes it $40 to go. This player has been really loose with his chips and not willing to release a hand. I have him slightly covered if I were to call the $40 and decide to move all in for an additional $240 on top of his raise. He tanks for about a minute and calls. I immediately table my kings knowing they are good right now as he would have called immediately with rockets. The flop comes down gin for me with a beautiful king of hearts on the flop to go with a jack and a rag to make a rainbow. The turn is an ace and I am pretty sure he is holding AK or pocket queens at this point. I have him drawing dead to a ten with queens and with AK dead to one of the two aces left in the deck. The river brings a heart dropping ace and when he lets out a cheer and pumps his fist I truly believe I just got runner-runnered to a bigger boat. However, he still hasn't turned his hole cards over yet and the dealer pushed my hand forward to show kings full of aces. At this point, my opponent's face was priceless as it went expressionless. He never showed his hand as he mucked and the monster pot was sent my way. I can only guess that he had that big chick after all for a moment believed that his trip aces were good forgetting that they made me a boat. For once can I have a hand where I don't have to sweat the two outers getting there on me. Anyway, for the rest of the session I got back to folding which I am getting really good at and only playing some suited aces and pocket pairs which never improved after the flop.

This was my first night session and we didn't get started till 10:40 pm. It took me almost an hour to get to Bally's as all of Vegas seems to be under construction at the same time. Great planning by the city fathers or the Clark County jackasses. How about only doing a couple of projects at a time so that those of us in the know can still navigate around the city without sitting in traffic for hours and putting ourselves on tilt before the first brutal beat even registers at the table. I'm going to push Mike for MGM. It's a great room and I can get there without really experiencing any major traffic or construction problems.

8/17
Hours Played This Session: 2.83
Take: $284
$ Per Hour: $100.35

Earn:
Month to Date: $437
Year to Date: $288
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $4.20
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 68.58
Sessions Played Year to Date: 14
Win/Loss Record by Session: 7/7 50.00% win rate

A Table Change That Made All The Difference

2009-08-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

So my plan was to cash in some Wynn chips I had lying around and then head down to MGM Grand to play $1/$2 NL. After cashing the chips, I decided to cruise The Strip down. I really love riding along The Strip and being surrounded by all the sights and sounds. However, with all the construction going on it turned out to be a bad idea. My buddy Long Island Mike plays a session around noon at Harrah's. At this point, it was a little after 2 pm so I decided to make a detour and stop at Harrah's to see if he wanted to get some lunch. When I got there I found him in his usual $1/$2 NL game and sat down behind him to shoot the shit and see how he had been. It had been about a week since we played together so I figured he would have some decent stories to tell me. He still needed to play about 90 minutes to qualify for his daily bonus and since I was in no rush I just sweated him and we caught up. His game broke right around the time he made his hours so after cashing out we decided to slide across the street to The Mirage to eat at BLT Burger. Each of us enjoyed the Black Angus half pounders we got, but I still say the best angus burgers in town belong to Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay. I've had burgers now at Strip Burger at The Fashion Show Mall, Le Burger Brasserie at Paris, and of course the aforementioned BLT Burger at The Mirage. There's just something about Burger Bar's burgers that are just aces in my book.

With our stomachs full we set out for poker glory by checking out The Mirage Poker Room. I've only played here once way back when I was out to Vegas on a vacation but I have always loved the room. Something about the history behind it, knowing I am sitting in the same room that the classic players used to frequent daily to relieve millionaires and home town heros alike of their bankrolls. There were four tables going, each with 8 - 9 players at each table. Long Island Mike is a table selection swami and after surveying the scene he settled on the table he wanted to play at. Instead, though, the floor woman sat us one table over since there were to seats available and we wanted to play together. Right off the bat Mikey loses about half his stack. After about 30 minutes of play, he makes the choice to get a seat change to the table he originally liked. I hang on at our original table but soon after he leaves I find myself reaching in my pocket to reload. I just couldn't hit a flop with pretty good hands, like AKs and AQs. I got my fair share of small pocket pairs but failed to flop any sets. I thought it was going to be one of those sessions. Finally, I was able to get a table change to Mike's table. However, the floorman did me no favors. Another table had broken about 10 minutes after I had went to the desk to ask for the table change. The floor, instead of honoring my request first, starts seating players from the broken game in the three other games that were going. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I should get first dibs on a seat in the game I requested and then the players from the broken game should fill in the remaining seats at the tables. I made a comment to Mike when I sat down that the floor man didn't give me the time of day because I didn't tip him. The dealer took offense to this but I still stand firm in my belief. The bigger rooms just don't tend to care as much about taking care of the players, with the exception of The Wynn and possibly The Venetian, but I haven't played there enough to know, just what I've heard. Places like Bellagio for instance could give a fuck about low limit players. Hell, they don't even take your player's card there and on top of it, if you do play long enough and request a $15 paper food comp, you are expected to tip $5 for it. WTF? So I am netting $10. Ok, that's not necessarily bad if I've only played 5 hours (I'd be getting $2/hr which is above industry standard,) but it rubs me the wrong way that I need to pay off the floor to get one.

But I digress. I reload once again upon sitting down at the new table I am into the game for about $360 (a little over $200 in front of me and stuck $160.) I pick up AK on the button but an Asian player who has just reloaded for $200 has made it $15 to go from middle position. I take some time and consider what I should do. I could three bet but the way I've been running I decide to cold call the $15. A loose/aggressive African American player in the blind calls and an early position limper closes the action with his call. The flop comes down ace high. The blind and early limper check to the raiser and he fires $25. I re-pop it to $75, making it 3x the Asian guy's bet. I figure this should get the limpers out and I'll get to play him heads up in position with what is most likely the best hand. I am praying I have him dominated with something like AQ or AJ. To my surprise he shoves over me. I insta-call because I am not going to out think myself. If he flopped a set of aces, well then it was just unlucky that the case ace fell. As I always do, I instantly turn my hand over and wait for his reaction. He meekly turns over wired queens and his two outer never gets there. Sweet! I stack him and with the other $30 in the pot I am now ahead for the session. Maybe this is a sign of things to come.

The very next hand I pick up AQs in hearts in the cut off. This time an older gentleman raises preflop from middle position and I flat call along with a couple others. The flop comes down queen high. Gin! Top pair, top kicker. It gets checked around to me. I get the size of the pot which is $40 and only get called by older gentleman. This makes me wonder as he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to call a large bet with only a draw. To go with the queen there was a jack on board. The turn brought a blank and he checked again to me. Tommy Angelo's words were ringing in my ear when he says if someone plays passively against you assume they are weak until you get further notice. I made a 2/3 pot size bet on the turn and got check raised shoved. I think that is what he meant by further notice. I muck my hand face up (something I really gotta stop doing) and this induces the old man to reveal his hole cards to me (that is one upside I've found to mucking your hand face up, those that are so proud of their hole cards will show you what they held.) I was looking at aces which I felt was the case, or he flopped a set of jacks or queens. In any event I knew I was beat and I think it was a pretty good fold, since the pot was only laying me about 3 - 1 to make that call. I could be drawing dead or at the very best to 2 outs which is a 22 -1 shot (if he specifically kings I would have had 5 outs with 2 queens and 3 aces left in the deck for a 8.20 - 1 situation which is still the worst of it.)

So I gave away about $90 in that hand, but I felt like I was playing really well and this line up was definitely much better than the one at the previos table. It always a good sign when limpers are willing to call fairly large preflop raises with hands that do not work well for stacking opponents post flop. There were way too many hands to go over or even accuarately remember so I will conclude with two hands that I believe are the best played hands of my fledling career thus far. To give you some background information, I am seated in seat 10 to the right of the dealer and to my left in seat 1 was the loose/aggressive African American player. This guy was one hell of a player. He played like how I imagined Doyle Bruson played when he was a Texas rounder in the 60s and 70s. He had a mountain of chips in front of him, anywhere $600 to $800 at any given time. He was the type of player that gave action to get action. He was paying for the big pots he played by picking up lots of small and medium sized ones all the time. He probably played about 70% of his hands and raised approximately 80% of the hands he played. I immediately had a ton of respect for the guy because I've always wished I could play that style. However, you have to be true to yourself and since I am relatively tight I used that image to beat him out of the follow two pots. Both times I had position on him which I think is the lesson to be learned from this. Tommy Angelo, an author I mention often because he has such great insight into the game, has stated that his bread and butter in poker comes from the last three seats: the button, the cut off, and the hijack seats.

The action happened so fast in the first hand that I do not remember all the particulars. Suffice it to say it was raised preflop and I am on the button with AhKd. The flop comes down all middle cards with two hearts. This is the type of flop that could have possibly hit him, especially with suited connectors or a small to middle pocket pair. He leads out for $45. After some deliberation a thought came to mind. Being that I held the trump ace for the heart draw, I decided to call his bet and if any heart, king, or ace fell on the turn I was going to push no matter what. I figured this gave me 13 cards to push with on the turn. A heart fell and to my surprise he checked to me. I pushed my stack in and after tanking for a few minutes he released his hand. Beautiful. Now I know this guy respects my game and I can get him to lay down some hands.

On the second hand, I raise on the button with wired 7s to $18 (I meant to make it $13 but somehow an extra nickel got in there.) Seat #1 calls my raise and we take the flop heads up. He checks to me and I bet out $35 a flop that comes king high. I was trying to represent the king, but unfortunately he came along. I was really hoping to spike one of my 7s so that I could suck out on him if he actually held a king. The turn brought an ace and I immediately fired out $60. Hell, I figured if he didn't believe I had a king, maybe he'll believe I had an ace. I did raise preflop and the hands I have shown to this point have all been premiums. He lays down the hand and I honestly believe I won two fairly large pots without the best hand. Hopefully I am starting to get the hang of this no limit stuff. Only time will tell, but I do feel like I am improving and that's my focus along with grinding out enough cash to pay the bills.

8/9
Hours Played This Session: 4.17
Take: $153
$ Per Hour: $36.70

Earn:
Month to Date: $153
Year to Date: $4
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $0.06
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 65.75
Sessions Played Year to Date: 13
Win/Loss Record by Session: 6/7 46.15% win rate

The DMV and Taking Chinners

2009-08-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

In my attempt to get myself right I've been working on getting everything away from the felt straightened out so that I can focus while I'm playing. That meant getting my smog check done yesterday and then sitting at the DMV for 3 hours. We all have DMV stories and they all suck. However, I still can't help but share mine. At the Nevada DMV in Henderson, I'm sure like DMV's all around the country, you must first go to the "Information Desk" to tell them why you have graced them with your presence and to insure you have all necessary documentation prior to taking up the time of one of the clerks. So after my 15 minutes in line waiting I finally get to see an information specialist. I always try to be kind to anyone working a shitty job because from what I can tell people take out their frustrations on these people regularly. With that in mind I get to the desk and proceed to explain that I am here to register my car (which I just had shipped here from Jersey, wink wink) and that I need to change the address on my license. I show him that I've done my homework and that I've compiled all required documentation to make this a smooth and hopefully effortless experience. He is a nice guy and seems pleased I'm not a jackass who hasn't come unprepared. He does however inquire if I've had my VIN inspection completed yet. Well, no I have not but I was told that the inspection happens here. He replies that indeed it does but I will have to go back out to my car and take it around the corner to the place where the inspection happens. He does kindly provide me with my ticket which is G463. They are only on G325 at this point so I figure I have time to kill. The bitch of the matter is I got lucky when I got there and found a parking spot which is no simple task. The DMV has about 200 spots and about 400 people are in the building at any given time. I get the test done rather quickly and proceed to drive around for a half hour until another spot opens up. I get back in the building and they are on G375. Hey great, I've made pretty much no progress.

Fast forward an hour and I am about 25 spots away from getting this taken care of when I finally believe there truly is a God...and he hates me. The fire alarm goes off. I am sitting in a chair about 5 feet from the exit and I proceed not to move until told to do so. Hell, I'm a gambling man and I place the odds at about 100 - 1 that this is a real fire. After a couple of minutes one of the clerks yells at us, "The fire alarm is going off. What is wrong with you people! You have to get out of the building!" What's wrong with us? We've been waiting here for 2 hours while you see 4 people an hour at your station. I don't see any smoke or flames my ass wasn't going anywhere until yours did. We proceed to make it outside and across the street where I bake in the 109 degree sun for 15 minutes until they determine it was a false alarm. We get back inside and I finally get my shit squared away and pay the state $155. The whole DMV system is enough to put the most even keel person on tilt. I commented to wifey via text that I am surprised you don't hear about people going postal at DMV's and shooting the places up. It sucks all the way down the line. You have to wait forever, you have to pay way too much, and then you take it out on the people that work there. Or, if you work there, you deal with the same shit day and day out for however many years until you retire. It's enough to drive anyone insane. Anyway, I'm legit now so no fear of getting pulled over with my unregistered vehicle with Jersey tags on it anymore.

Wifey has been getting toothaches and went to the dentist today. He told her she needed to get a root canal. This is her second one. WTF? He is going to fit her in today and the out of pocket expense is $500. Again, WTF? He works at a hospital for Christ sake, she should have the best insurance around. I hope she isn't in too much pain afterwards because we have a comped room at Bally's tonight. Hopefully a little proseco and time away from the cat will work wonders for her. Actually, I just hope she can eat tonight because I want Maggiano's lobster ravioli. Chinner after chinner around here. No poker this week, Chuck and family get into town on Tuesday so I have to make sure everything here is in order. Can't let the real world think we actually live like this.

Have a great weekend everyone and I'll get back to my exploits soon. Talk to you then

Thought Of The Week 8/1 - 8/7: Living Right

2009-08-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

LIVING RIGHT

When you do something for a living like play poker, it opens up many avenues for you in your spare time since you are your own boss. Like yesterday, instead of playing on Sunday during the football offseason (something I should be doing since I won't be playing Sundays once the NFL kicks off) I decided to head down to the M Resort, sit at their draft beer bar, and drink while watching the Phils and playing video poker. Fortunately I won a little cash while drinking for free and unfortunately the Phils lost. However, I know to video poker to be a leak. It's something I should only partake in after I have consistently proved I can win money week in week out playing hold'em. I knew this was not "living right" and it's something I am going to be working on from this point forward. Rebecca deserves better from me. Getting tuned up once in a while is ok, doing it on a frequent basis like I have been for quite a while is not. In the following I am going to detail the things I feel like I should be doing off the felt so that when I do sit down and go to war everything else in my life has been taken care of. I keep telling myself I am capable of living the life of my dreams, meaning achieving success at poker while getting in great shape and maintaining an awesome relationship. I have 3 Cantonese symbols on my right lat which are supposed to represent my mantra on life. They state desire, devotion, and discipline. Desire represents that thirst you can't quench. It used to be for me becoming the best possible soccer player I could be. I had this mindset that if I wasn't training, someone else was, and when we met on the field he would get the better of me. So I trained constantly. In the offseason in high school, I would come home, change, and head directly outside to train with the ball until my mother would call me in for dinner. Nowadays, poker has taken over, though lately I have not been training the way I did when I was working on my soccer skills. Every morning that I wake up I need to be reading chapters in books or articles and forums on the internet to help me to improve my game each day. If I do that, I know I will be able to consistently beat the tourists for a real profit and I will be able to beat the locals a majority of the time as well. This leads me into devotion. Devotion to me means each action I take has to point me in the direction of success. So I need to keep reading and taking notes. I need to discuss hands with my friends from back home and the compatriots I am meeting out here who are also trying to do this for a living. Devotion is the burning desire in action. Finally, discipline means keeping on that path and not going astray. Discipline is what I have been lacking for quite some time now. It also means playing enough hours to make a living, playing at the right times (read: a night,) and playing in good games and getting out of bad ones so that I maximize the time I have available to me.

Off the felt there are many things I want to accomplish to better my quality of life.

First, I need to quit boozing. Period. It's ruining my health. Once I put the bottle down, I need to pick the weights up and start hitting the gym on a regularly scheduled basis. As my health improves, I know my stamina will increase giving me an edge in late night sessions when others' concentration will start to slack. Hand in hand with this is eating right. Right now I eat like shit. This needs to change. I will start eating lean meats and fresh veggies.
I need to go to church every Sunday morning. Whether or not I believe in God has yet to be determined. However, I do enjoy the lessons and teachings of the Bible. I do not necessarily agree with the Catholic Church's societal views. However, I can mentally separate the two. Besides, going to church makes me feel good and I know somewhere my grandfather is watching me and it will make him proud as well.
I need to complete my final project for my master's degree. This is something I am going to strive to do this week. No more putting it off. No more when I speak to my folks will I have to skirt the issue. Completing this program and graduating with honors will make my parents so proud. Even if I am discouraged with working in sports after my experience with the Camden Riversharks minor league baseball team, completing this degree to the best of my ability and graduating with honors is something no one can take from me. I want that piece of paper on my wall.

I think this is a good start to getting back on the right track. I will focus on these 3 things off the felt and I know by doing so everything in my life will get better. I'm going to keep in mind what I used to tell my patrons at the gym when they were working on losing weight or gaining muscle. Focus on progress, not perfection. I plan on making some progress this week. I'll keep you posted.

I Play So Bad

2009-07-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hung over and only out of bed for 30 minutes, I started my session after getting a wake up call from wifey telling me it was 11 am and I needed to get out of bed and check out of the room. I don't even remember her leaving the hotel room earlier that morning. After using express check out I dropped my bag off at my car and went down to the poker room. For the most part everything was going smoothly and I was up about $60 or so without too much confrontation. I made one misstep and it cost me my profit for the day. I was only planning on playing the minimum of 3 hours to get my $30 bonus along with whatever winnings I could scrape together. I limped in with wired 5s from early position on the button raised it to $12. I called hoping to flop a set. The flop came down 2-9-2 with two clubs. I bet out $15 and got raised to $30. I should have guessed him for an over pair but of course I read him for something like AKs in clubs. That is a real specific read and obviously I was wrong. I moved all in thinking he was really weak and would get away from the hand. He only had $63 left in front of him and I most likely would have moved in on the turn if a club did not fall. He showed two queens and my fives did not improve and I lost the pot. I later picked up pocket aces and after making that play thought I would get action with them. I raised pre-flop and got called in one spot. I made a pot sized bet on the flop and was hoping the continued aggression would look week, like I was tilting. Instead my opponent folded. Too bad, I was hoping he would try and pick me off and I would have gotten my profit back.

The reason I say I play so bad is I should have known the opponent in the first hand mentioned probably had an over pair to be playing back at me. I just hate min raises. They seem so week to me. It's like Doyle Brunson says when he speaks about "post oak bluffs", they're gutless bets. I moved in on him because I thought he was weak. Instead, I should have looked the size of his stack. With only $63 behind and about that much already in the pot, he is going to come along and I can only beat a semi-bluff at that point. I should have gotten away from that hand. In the back of my mind I always here a voice telling me it is a weak play if you get away for a min raise when you might have the best hand. That voice also tells me others are going to play with you if fold in these spots. I should have folded anyway and if a situation came up where I was really strong and I made a pot sized bet and got min raised again, I could then come over the top. I just played the situation really poorly and of course Rebecca done her luncheon at work and was back at the casino sitting behind me. When she saw how I played the hand she just shook her head. Guess that gives her a lot of confidence about what I'm doing for a living at the moment. Oh well, it wasn't a catastrophic loss, just a really dumb one.

7/31
Hours Played This Session: 3.5
Gave: $24
$ Per Hour: -$6.86

Earn:
Month to Date: -$26
Year to Date: -$149
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$2.42
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 61.58
Sessions Played Year to Date: 13
Win/Loss Record by Session: 5/7 41.67% win rate

Finally Some Action

2009-07-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

I am writing this entry two days after completing it and much of the session has fallen from my memory. All I can remember is that this session had the most action of any during the week. Maybe that speaks to Thursdays as a day when tourists are just getting into town for a long weekend of play. Not really sure, but I will keep an eye on this to see if this becomes a trend.

There was a professional player sitting at my table who was very loose/aggressive. I'm not sure why he was sitting $1/$2 when it was obvious he played $2/$5 or higher. In any event, I got tangled with him early on after he just sat down before I realized his style of play. To make a long story short, I had top pair in aces holding AQ. The board came down 9-T-A, the turn was a blank, and the river was a ten and for some reason my gut told me he had a ten in the whole. He bet out $60 on the river and I mucked flashing my ace. He showed 9-2s. If we had played one more orbit together I would have been able to make that call on the river. I now recognize him and will be able to play better against him in the future.

In another hand I held pocket tens against his buddy who also seemed like a pro since the two were talking about a hand that came up between the loose/aggro guy and a mutual friend of theirs. I checked the 8 high flop and my opponent bet out $15. I check raised to $45 and after thinking for a minute he called. The turn brought a 9 and after studying the board I moved in. He really tanked this time and I started thinking I am looking at a wired pair bigger than mine. I had verbally announced my bet and after a couple minutes the dealer asked me to move my checks into the center of the table. As I did this, my hands started to shake a bit. I am starting to believe I have a nervous condition, though it may be a minor one. Hopefully my opponent read this as being really strong as this is the tell many players have when holding a monster. In any event, my opponent laid down his hand. As for the shaking, I will keep an eye on it but without any health insurance even if I do have a mild condition I am not sure there is anything I can do about it. I am hoping getting back into shape and drinking far less than I do no will have a positive impact on it. I will be starting back my "Thought of the Week" commentary this weekend and will be discussing the importance of doing the right things away from the table so that you feel your best when you play and what changes I'll be making to my life to start "living right."

7/30
Hours Played This Session: 4.0
Take: $99
$ Per Hour: $24.75

Earn:
Month to Date: -$2
Year to Date: -$125
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$2.15
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 58.08
Sessions Played Year to Date: 12
Win/Loss Record by Session: 5/6 45.45% win rate

Just Like A Young Man Coming In For A Quickie

2009-07-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

But I do feel proud and good. Mike Caro talks about manufacturing wins, where when things are going well you cut your session short because you want to preserve a win and then when things are running bad you play long hours under the worst conditions in order to get even or a little ahead so you can quit a winner. This was not the case today. I just needed a win. Period. Anything to post since I've been running so bad lately. It's a psychological thing more so than anything else. The table I was playing at wasn't any good and I felt great leaving there a winner considering the rake is $5 max plus $1 jackpot drop on top plus the table was 80% locals grinding out there $30 bonuses. There was one donator at the table making some terrible calls, but I wasn't able to get in any hands with him and wasn't about to stick around to do so. Here are the notable hands from this short session.

The action gets limped around to me in the big blind and I look down at KQ suited in hearts. I also check and we take the flop something like 5 handed. The board comes down king high with a ten and a small card. I bet the size of the pot and get one caller. From what I've seen of this guy he has only shown premium starting hands but he did not raise pre-flop so I'm thinking maybe something like suited connectors. The turn was a blank and I bet out $25. He was again called without much hesitation. Hmmm, maybe KT suited and flopped top two? The river was also a blank and I fired out $40. With top pair and second best kicker I think checking may be too weak a play here. I'm thinking he may have a marginal hand and will probably just throw it away rather than waste $40. Instead he flat calls and I'm pretty sure I'm good. Now I put him on KJ. Instead he surprises me with AK and takes the pot with top pair, top kicker. I would have thought he would have popped me on the turn or maybe play back at me on the flop to find out where I am at and also to protect his fragile holding. By just calling he got the maximum from me. Maybe he thought he was losing the minimum if I was the one who flopped two pair or a set.

The next hand came up with I raised in late position with AQo. I got one caller, the player to my immediate right who had originally limped in. The flop came down K-A-K with two diamonds. I bet out and he called. The turn brought a third diamond. I am usually not too concerned against a single opponent when this happens until I get some bad news from them. He checked the turn, I bet the size of the pot, and he called. The river brought a fourth diamond, and with me holding the queen of diamonds, I now hold the nuts provided he does not have a boat. It would have been hard for him to have a boat being that he would have had to hold AK or or KK to have a full house or better on the flop. If he was drawing at the flush, which was not a smart idea being that I raised pre-flop and could reasonably hold AK for a flopped boat, he would have himself drawing dead even if he hit one of his outs on the turn. Still, I would expect him to have check raised me and moved in for his last $40 on the turn in the event I had a bigger diamond in my hand. He would want to charge me what he could for my redraw. Alas, he did not and when he checked the river to me I eyed his stack and bet enough to tap him. He made a crying call and I said to him if you have a boat you got me, otherwise I have the nuts. I showed him my holding with the queen of hearts and he got pissed and violently threw his hand into the muck. Hey, you played it poorly and got what you deserved. It's happened to me a million times but I'm beginning to learn from my mistakes.

At this point I get the sense this player is starting to tilt which is great since all the locals play too tight. This guy is playing this morning for his $30 a day plus his $599 monthly bonus for the 125 hours he has logged in the room. He does not like the idea of burning through a couple buy ins (someone else stacked him after me.) He got serious and bought in for a couple hundred. He proceeded to play looser and give about a hundred away when this hand came up. Under the gun he raises it to $6. I look down at wired 8s and call. The middle position player who I had lost to with my KQs also comes along and we take the flop three handed. Gin! My 8 falls on the flop along with a king and a small card. I know have middle set and I'm now praying one or both of the two are holding AK and I can win me a nice pot. UTG bets out $10 on the flop, I min raise to $20 which is a weak raise and I am hoping that one of the two come over the top. The player with position thinks for a minute and folds and UTG min raises me back. This is a really odd play, like we're playing $10/$20 limit. After a moment of thought, my spidey senses tell me he is weak, at least compared to my holding, and I move in on him. I am 99% sure he is holding AK. He would have re-raised all in with aces or at the very least made a healthy bet to protect his hand after I min raised him. He instantly calls and I turn over my 8s. With the speed he called with I first thought my read was wrong and he actually had the three wise men. But when he didn't show I was reassured my read was correct. The turn was a blank and the river surely poured salt in his wounds when an ace fell. I picked up his stack of about $100 and he decided to rebuy once again. I guess he really needed his hours. Too bad I made some weak calls later on and gave some of my hard won checks to other players, but I refuse to play too tight a game even with the locals. I need to get paid off on my good hands so by giving some action here and there I believe pays dividends down the road. They will remember the time I called down with a weak queen or king and decide to bet into me. Little do they remember that I was most likely in the blind and playing out of position. When I finally do have position on them and I am calling with a monster hand, they won't know anything about it until the pot is too big, the big bets go in, and its too late. At least that's the game plan against the local rocks. Either that or suck out on them, get them to go on tilt, and hopefully have them seek you out personally where you can punish them when you have the goods. Time will tell, but so far I am holding my own, which may not be saying much, but for a life long limit player it is giving me confidence to keep playing no limit. We'll see what happens today.

7/29
Hours Played This Session: 3.5
Take: $107
$ Per Hour: $30.57

Earn:
Month to Date: -$101
Year to Date: -$224
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$4.14
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 54.08
Sessions Played Year to Date:10
Win/Loss Record by Session: 4/6 40.00% win rate

Quads, Coolers, Sets, and Suck Outs

2009-07-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

On day two of my quest to find the softest $1/$2 no limit tables on The Strip I stumbled into Harrah's after parking at Flamingo and walking through there and The Imperial Palace looking for action. I couldn't even find The Flamingo's room (which is never a good thing) and The IP only had $2/$4 limit going at around 11:15 am. When I got to Harrah's, there were two no limit tables going along with a morning no limit tourney. This looked great to me as players that busted from the tourney might sit in the cash game, hopefully on tilt, and ready to spew chips. This did not turn out to be the case but there were a couple of weaker tourists mixed in with the locals. It turns out that Harrah's has a bunch of promotions running to reward regular players and tourists alike. The first is what is deemed "the breakfast club." Play for three hours starting your session before noon and come back the next day (or take at least an hour off and then come back) and receive $30 in cash your next session (Sunday through Thursday.) Also, if a player accumulates 125 hours in a month in the room, that player will receive $599 in cash. Doing the math, that comes out to $30 x 5 x 4 = $600 + $599 = $1,199 per month guaranteed income for making Harrah's your official place of business. As a result, it attracts the local retirees who put their hours in to get their monthly stipend along with the hopes of either winning some money or hitting one of the high hands or bad beat.

In the first orbit I picked up 7s in the big blind and the flop came down with a pair of 7s. Holy Shit I flopped the stone cold nuts!! That never happens. I check and call the flop which gets us down to heads up, we both check the turn, and I bet $12 on the river which got called. I showed the quads expecting only to pick up the pot. The room does a really poor job of letting you know all the promotions that are going on. But when I saw the dealer call for the floor for confirmation of a high hand, I was like a school boy on a Christmas morning grinnin with anticipation of what Santa had brought me. In this case, Santa was the floor man and he brought me two greenie and five reds for my $75 bonus. I'll take it.

I thought this was the proverbial corner I was turning, especially when I picked up wired aces on a jack high board against a player I had bullied out of several pots in the first hour of play. I bet $12 and he check-raised me to $30. I insta-shoved hoping to look like a kid who has watched too much WPT final table action. He immediately called and when I turned over the rockets he did not flip his cards and I knew I was good. However, when the turn paired the board with the jack I knew he had sucked out and he then turned over his J9o. I had this guy right where I wanted him. I had set it up perfectly only to have fate take that pot away from me. If you've been following my trials and tribulations it seems like a reoccuring theme for me. In my heart of hearts I know that I have not played nearly enough hours of any form of poker since deciding to do this full time to see variance even out and get a true sense of what my win rate should be (from past experience, I know I am a winning player at low limit hold'em but no limit has yet to be determined.) Even so, all the red entries in my book make it disheartening to look at. I hate it when I get in the mind set that when all the chips go in and I am way ahead, I am still expecting to get sucked out on. I really need to have a good run so that I can see if works both ways.

The odds held in my favor when I flopped a set of 6s against a calling station. I limped in early position, got a bunch of callers, the button raised it to $12 and only I called. The board came down mono-chrome in clubs but my 6 was amongst them. Knowing full when that the odds of flopping a flush when holding two of that suit is 117.8 - 1 I bet out the size of the pot and got called. I wanted to charge the maximum should my opponent be holding the trump ace. The turn brought a great card for me in the Ace of Spades. Now if my opponent was holding a hand like AK with ace of clubs he would surely call any sized bet on the turn. I moved in for $110 and he insta-called me. I thought for a second maybe he had wired aces with the trump ace to boot. Instead he turned over his AJo with the nut flush draw. The river was kind to me for once I and double through him, getting me back to about even for the session.

I picked up wired aces again against a calling station who had been feeding the table. He was into his 3rd buy in of $200 at that point and he had a nice stack in front of him. I thought to myself this is it when He called my $12 bet from late position while he was in the big blind. We took the flop heads up and it was a great flop for me. All over the place, no flush draws, no straight draws, just pure chaos. I bet the size of the pot and he called. Sweet! At this point I am planning to make a pot sized bet on the turn and push on the river. The turn pairs the board and I bet out $30 (about 2/3 of the pot) and sir-calls-alot check-raises me for his entire stack of about $100. A red flag goes up in my mind when losing calling stations bet into me or in this case play back at me with a check-raise. Instantly A-7 flashed in my mind. I felt strongly about this for a couple of reasons: First, he was the type of player to call a raise with any ace. Second, he was the type of player to call down to the river with any medium sized pair. Third, he was the type of player that would only bet out with a strong hand. Fourth, when I asked for time from the dealer he sat back in his chair. I watched his breathing which appeared to be pretty normal. Many players will hold their breath in an attempt to appear calm when making a big bluff. He also looked away like he was uninterested in my decision. Now this could be viewed as a sign of weakness since if a player is not very interested in your decision if usually means he is very interested in what you are going to do. However, with everything mulling around inside my melon, I was about 99% certain I was holding the loser and I mucked it face up. I did this for a very important reason. I wanted the players to know that I was capable of making a big lay down, but in the back of my mind I also wanted them to remember this so that they might try a similar move in a later session and I will pick them off. I only did this because of my read on this particular player in this particular hand. The board was very mean to me today with it's pairing when I didn't want it to. That thought crept into the back of my mind that someone somewhere must really want me to go broke.

That thought was reinforced when it was limped around to me on the button I raised to $15 with wired ladies. I raised to $15 because there was already $10 in the pot and I didn't want to lay too low a price for someone to come in with a suited ace or king and out flop me. I only got called by a weak/tight player to my immediate left. Early a similar situation had come up where I raised a bunch of limpers from late position, only he called, and I made a $25 bet on the flop and got him to fold while I only held ace high. This time I had the goods as the flop came down ten high. He checked to me and I made a similar sized bet. I was hoping the guy would get fed up with me and either flat me or check raise. He had a small stack of about $65 in front of him and when he moved in I was hoping he had a hand like the aforementioned suited AT and I would have to fade a five outer twice to stack him. Instead he showed me a flopped set of 8s when I called the additional $35 and I could not find one of the two remaining queens to put my own bad beat on someone for once.

my alternate title for this entry was:
Bonus Grinding - Sounds Like A Job To Me

The reason I play poker is because I didn't want a 9 - 5. However, with my recent results I think it is in my best interest to play this room for a while, take the guaranteed money, hopefully grind out some additional wages, and maybe pick up a couple high hands or even the bad beat. I sound like the local retirees I described in the opening. What has my life become?

I'd like to give a quick shout to Tyler, the computer guru from North Cackalacky. Eat and drink well my friend as long as the boss is using the company credit card. I also think I have found a compratriot in a guy named Mike who recently moved out from Long Island and is grinding away a living playing no limit. I look forward to talking about hands with him in the future as well as getting together to hang out. I don't have many friends out here so hopefully this is a sign of good things to come on this front.

A note on the figures below: My total buy in out my pocket was $240 for the session. If I don't count the $75 bonus for the quads then I left the table with $130 ($205 - $75 = $130. $240 - $130 = $110) This leaves me down $110 on the session. If you add the bonus back in it comes to a loss of $35. I need some input here because I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, I feel like that is extra money that did not come from the players at the table and should not be factored into my hourly rate. On the other hand, I am paying for that jackpot with each hand I win with the $1 jackpot drop. Therefore, all the players are paying for it and it's what attracts players to the room, which in turn attracts me to the room. So for now I figured it into my hourly figures since it is not house funded. I think that will be my cut off. If I win a house funded jackpot then I will not count it into my hourly rate since the players are not providing the funding for it. Any feedback from those of you that peruse my rantings would be much appreciated.

7/28
Hours Played This Session: 7.00
Gave: $35
$ Per Hour: -$5.00

Earn:
Month to Date: -$208
Year to Date: -$331
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$6.54
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 50.58
Sessions Played Year to Date:9
Win/Loss Record by Session: 3/6 33.33% win rate

Trying Something Different

2009-07-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

So I tried switching things up a bit after talking to my good buddy Chuck. Chuck is a no limit cash game player and every time we talk he tells me I should give no limit a shot. So I took his advice today and scouted out a no limit game where I felt the competition would be weak and I could ease myself into the no limit mindset. I decided on Excalibur mainly due to the type of clientele the property attracts. No self respecting poker player who took his/her game seriously would be found here, which is precisely why I went there. Only one $1/$2 no limit game was going when I arrived around noon and I was seated in about ten minutes. The session started off very well as I poked around in late position and picked up small pot after small pot. I thought to myself this is going to be a low risk kind of game full of weak/tight players that will let me push them off pots provided I don't get too out of hand with it. I was up about a stack of red when I flopped a set of 7s on a board of 6-7-8 with a two flush in clubs in a three handed pot. The early position player checked, the middle position player bet out ten into a pot of about that size, I re-raised to $30. The early position player to my surprise called and the original raiser folded. The turn brought an off suit nine so now any ten or any five would give my opponent a straight. The early player checked and I checked behind. The river brought an off suit jack which didn't really concern me since if I was beat that card didn't change things. The early player checked and I should have just shown the hand down but my opponent was a calling station and I figured him for two pair when he did not bet the river (something like 8-7 or 8-6) and I moved in on him (he had about $70 which was the size of the pot roughly.) He instantly called and I asked him if had the ten, instead he showed me an 8-5o for top pair and the ass end of the straight draw on the flop. Not only did the guy call my re-raise of $30 cold on that board, there was the distinct possibility that the original raiser could have bumped it up again and that I would come along or push. The way the hand played out, I guess I could have only been called with a straight there, but I also figured my play could have looked like a busted flush draw trying to pick up the pot on the end. Only against a thinking player should I have made that play. Against a calling station I should try that play because he is incapable of throwing away a second best hand even for all his chips. Other than that hand, there were only a couple other hands worth speaking of.

The first interesting spot that came up was when a weak/tight player min-raised UTG and I was next to act. I looked down at queens and made it $15 to go. It was folded back around to the UTG and he min-raised me again to $30. Right then I knew I was beat but I would have called him with any pair knowing full when if I flopped a set on a board without an ace I would felt him. The flop came down with three cards all lower than my pair. UTG moved in for $75 and I flashed my queens as I mucked them. He showed me his aces and I rapped the table knowing full well he had won the battle but I would win the war with this guy should be tangle again. Alas, that never happened.

The other situation arose when I found queens again in late-middle position. Folded around to me I made a standard raise of $8, the short stack to my left moved in for $24, the big blind called. I also called and we took the flop three handed with one all in. The flop came down 9 high and the big blind shoved for about $75. I instantly called as I had him on jacks since he did not re-raise pre-flop like I figured he might with a pair bigger than my own. He turned over his kings and I did not suck out with queens.

Not such a good start to my attempt at no limit hold'em. I feel like I need to brush up each morning reading some good articles on no limit play. My spidey senses are just a bit off since I am used to limit play where I pretty much know where I stand in the way the bets and raises are made. Still, I feel like I could become a very big favorite in the long run if I keep at no limit and search out the soft games with people looking to have a good time and free drinks rather than those looking to make a score to pay their bills.

7/27
Hours Played This Session: 6.58
Gave: $137
$ Per Hour: -$20.82

Earn:
Month to Date: -$173
Year to Date: -$296
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$6.79
Total Hours Played Year to Date:43.58
Sessions Played Year to Date:8
Win/Loss Record by Session: 3/5 37.50%

I Thought It Was Going To Be My Day...

2009-07-23T08:26:00.001-07:00

...but it wasn't. I had stretches where I got hit over the head with the deck and other periods where I would just fold for several hours straight. An annoying session overall as the lineup at the table was great as usual. I think I have to be prepared to change gears more often as the looseness and tightness of the game ebbs and flows. I'll have to really be keen on which players are winning and losing in the session as that affects how tight or loose they play. Anyway, nothing remarkable happened this session as far as big hands go or interesting moments at the table. This is it for the post today. It's wifey's Saturday so I'll be spending the day with her. We'll need to get my car at some point. I left it at The Wynn since after I quit play for the day I started boozing and watching the US win their semifinal match in the Gold Cup while also cheering the Phils on to victory against the Cubbies.

7/23
Hours Played This Session: 6
Gave: $54
$ Per Hour: -$12.00

Earn:
Month to Date: -$36.00
Year to Date: -$159
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$4.30
Total Hours Played Year to Date:37.00
Sessions Played Year to Date:8
Win/Loss Record by Session: 3/4 42.85%

Hitting Some Flops

2009-07-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

Had a decent day yesterday, would have been better if my table had not broken. Really odd that we were the only $4/$8 game going at around 7 pm so there was no other table to move to or no list to get put on. Luck (read: variance) was just starting to swing in my favor. I'll briefly describe the two interesting hands where I came out the victor.

In the cut off seat, only a loose-passive Asian player called from early position. I raised with pocked 9s and the big blind came along. The flop comes down A-9-3 which is a gin flop for my hand since the most likely holding of the loose-passive player is a weak Ace. The flop is checked to me and I bet out. The big blind folds and weak player calls. Now I definitely have him on an Ace and he is the type to see the hand all the way through. The turn brings a blank, checked to me, fire a bet, and get called again. The river pairs the board with an Ace. He checks, I bet, and he check-raises. I trust my initial read and think he believes his trip Aces are good. I reraise him making it $24 to and $8 back to him. He insta-calls and announces he has a full house. My first thought is "oh shit he flopped two pair with Ace-trey and filled up on the river." I flip over my hand to show 9s full of Aces and he shows 3s full of Aces for the smaller boat. I rake in a nice pot. My read was off here but I gained valuable information on this opponent who plays regularly. He will almost always slow play a monster hand so now I know a couple of things about him for future use: 1) If he is betting out on the flop and turn he probably has a hand but not a monster, and 2) If he check-raises me on the river I can lay down a decent hand with a clear conscience. He does not seem to be the type of player to be able to make a move, nor should he playing at this level where opponents will not throw a hand away to save a bet even though they are 99% sure they are beat.

The second hand came about a half hour later. This time it is folded to me again in the cut off and I look down at T9s in diamonds. I raise, the button folds, the small blind comes along (an old man in a suit and wrap around shades named Bill who appears to be a regular) and my Asian buddy from the previous hand I mentioned decides he doesn't want to tangle with me and folds his big blind (the first time I saw him do this in the 3 sessions I've played with him thus far - also good info if he remembers who I am the next time we play together.) The flop comes down 6-7-8 with two clubs. Fake Oakleys checks to me and I bet, he calls and the turn brings a Jack. I still have the nuts and it is checked to me again. I bet and he calls. The river brings a 4 and no club which is such a delightful card because if he has a 5 he has made the ass end of the straight and may even raise me since I raised pre-flop indicating a possible big hand like pocket Tens - Aces, hell he even beats a set in this spot. He checks, I bet and he calls. I announce I flopped the nuts and before I could turn over my hand the guys makes a disbelieving sound and gives me the look of "how could you flop the nuts if you raised pre-flop." I show him the T9s and he mucks showing me only his 9 for a one card open ended straight. I can only imagine one of two hands he held here. Either J9 for a turned top pair or pocket 9s. He was not the type to call raises even out of the small blind so originally I thought is was J9 but the more I think about it he must have had wired 9s instead and he put me on an unimproved big Ace the whole way.

Here's the book keeping for the session:

7/22
Hours Played This Session:4.5
Take: $54
$ Per Hour: $12.00

Earn:
Month to Date: $18
Year to Date: -$105
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$3.39
Total Hours Played Year to Date:31.00
Sessions Played Year to Date:6
Win/Loss Record by Session: 3/3 50.00%

A Wynn Lose Situation

2009-07-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

The second session at The Wynn proved to be just one of those days where nothing seems to go right. The table was still great. When I sat down the first four pots had 6 players in them. I knew with this kind of table it pays to play hands that can flop big hands and big draws from late position. I've taken poker author and all around good guy Tommy Angelo's advice and decided that there are really only two positions outside of the blinds. There is late position which entails the button, the cut off, and the hijack seats and then there is early position consisting of the rest of the seats. He calls the late position seats his bread and butter where he makes the majority of his profit playing. Tommy has been playing both limit and no-limit professionally for over 20 years and he has all sorts of gems of insight. This one is definitely worth its weight in chips. Only, on the day, it didn't matter. I did not win a pot in the first two hours of play (contrast that to the first two years of yesterday's session.) I won't bore you with the details of a truly boring session. However, there was a truly humorous situation that came up.

It was folded around to an old lady on oxygen who spoke Spanish as her first language in middle position. She was not a rock especially, but you knew if she raised pre-flop she had a premium starting hand. First in, she limped so I figured her range was pretty wide. It is then folded around to me on the button I look down at KQ0. I raise, the small blind folds, the big blind comes along as does grandma. The flop comes down A-K-A. I'm not sure what to make of this flop as I am not worried about the big blind by the old lady is known to play any Ace. The big blind checks, the old lady checks, and I bet out because I hate missing bets and just would rather take the pot down right now. The big blind folds and the old lady check-raises. I started cracking up and mucked my hand. The was the first time I've ever been check-raised by anyone over the age of 80, let alone an elderly woman with oxygen tubes up her nose. I knew at that point that I was the butt of the poker gods jokes for this session.

At my low point I was down roughly $230. A regulary to my immediate right named Bob who I used to play with at Green Valley has taken a liking to me for some reason and we got to talking about being stuck. He said his stop-loss limit is $200. I told him I was stuck more than that at the moment and he recommended I call it quits for the day. I replied to him that as long as the game was good I couldn't justify leaving. I mean, if I am going to come back tomorrow and play what difference does it make. After all, there is a possibility that the line up tomorrow won't be as good, though I highly doubt it. The games are always good at this limit. My feeling is as long as I am playing good poker and not feeling the ill effects emotionally of bad beats and cold decks that I should continue playing. And on this session, I felt remarkably calm. In fact, being stuck really didn't bother me much at all. I know this has everything to do with being properly bankrolled. When you are not worried about going broke, you have the confidence to keep playing your A game even when the chips are down.

To put this into perspective, I flopped a set of 8s while being first to act against two opponents. I check it and it gets bet to my immediate left and called by the late player. I also call and we go to the turn. I checked again and the middle position once again fired. The late player called and I check-raised them both, getting double bets from each of them. I bet out on the river, the middle player folded and the late player raised. Fifth street put a possible straight on board and I made the crying call knowing all too well that I was most likely looking at it. Not to be disappointed my opponent showed me that he hit his gutshot and a massive pot went his way. A couple minutes later he was called for his $1/$3 no limit game and off he went with pile of my checks. It didn't even phase me. I knew right then and there that I have what it takes emotionally to do this. A lesser player might have had that hand cracked and steamed off a bunch of chips. That's what my late grandfather would call throwing good money after bad. He also told me not to accept any wooden nickels.

7/21
Hours Played This Session:4.75
Gave: $106
$ Per Hour: -$22.32

Earn:
Month to Date: -$36.00
Year to Date: -$159
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$6.00
Total Hours Played Year to Date:26.50
Sessions Played Year to Date:5
Win/Loss Record by Session: 2/3 33.33%

A Wynn Win Situation

2009-07-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

I tried twice to find a game at South Point but all they were spreading were $1/$2 no limit and $2/$4 limit. I take so much time checking websites that review cardrooms so that I already have a good idea of what games and what types of players to expect when I arrive at a casino. Some of the sites suggested that South Point would have a $4/$8 game. This is not the case and is very disappointing as I now have to travel to the strip to play rather than just crossing the street. I guess I kind of have my own commute to work now.

There are 3 strip rooms that spread $4/$8 limit hold'em constantly. These are The Bellagio, The Venetian, and Wynn Las Vegas. The greatest thing about these rooms is $4/$8 is the lowest limit game they spread, therefore you get all the $2/$4 and $3/$6 players playing in it. They make for wild swings since they draw out so much more often on your superior hand (i.e. they do not know how to lay down a hand) but they make the pots so big that it is worthwhile to put up with the beats they provide routinely. I played at The Bellagio last year and found the room to be cramped (on the low limit side.) Bellagio does not provide any hourly comps to players. You have to be a regular there and then tip the floor to get yourself a $15 paper food comp. I find it funny that one would have to tip for a comp. Seems to defeat the purpose, especially when I am only netting $10 on the deal. I also played the Venetian last year and I really liked the room as it is gorgeous and spacious. If you go back to the blog of that session, you will recall I ran into my first experience with collusion. I've thought about that session repeatedly and I can come to no other conclusion. The two players left together at the end of the session and took breaks together during the session. This is no reflection on the quality of the Venetian room. It would have been hard to catch and I might not have noticed it had I not been the victim in the hand. The Venetian provides players at my limit $1 per hour in comps which is pretty much the industry standard. I will be playing there again some time down the road.

This brings us to the last of the three options, The Wynn Las Vegas. The poker room at The Wynn is beautiful. There were 3 $4/$8 tables going when I got there around 1 pm which was a sight for sore eyes. I was seated in about 10 minutes and immediately felt I was in heaven. The quality of the players was so bad and there was a mix of locals and tourists. In the first two hours I was up $120. I texted Rebecca and told her that I think I had found my office. I slowly bled chips back throughout the course of the session and then slowly built them back up. I ended the session up $70 which is the equivalent of 1.45 big bets per hour. I could have easily pushed that up to 2 big bets if I value betted the river correctly in a few spots. This is going to be something I continually work on as I think this is where I can grind out as much as one additional big bet per hour in my game. Especially against a lone opponent on the river that I know will call a bet with a hand that he would not bet himself. No real big hands to discuss this session. Just top pair top kicker type hands that won decent sized pots repeatedly. I was pleased with my first session back off of a long layoff and I am looking forward to playing again tomorrow.

Oh, and The Wynn provides a $1/hr comp as well good at a limited number of restaurants. I'll be sure to accumulate them and then take wifey to the buffet which I hear is one of the best in town. It should be at $30 per person.

7/20
Hours Played This Session: 6.0
Take: $70
$ Per Hour: $11.67

Earn:
Month to Date: $70
Year to Date: -$53
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$2.44
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 21.75
Sessions Played Year to Date: 4
Win/Loss Record by Session: 2/2 50.00%

Back To The Grind

2009-07-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've had anything to say, hence the dry spell with posts. As mentioned previously, I have been waiting on a check to arrive and that day has finally come. After taking care of some financial obligations that had been weighing me down mentally (along with clogging up my voice mail with collector's calls - at least I was keeping people in the collection's department employed,) I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. I had been suffering from restless nights due to my financial position so I hope to be sleeping easier in the days to come. For the first time in my whole life I will be able to approach the felt battlefields with a clear conscience in regards to being properly funded. I have set aside a sufficient bankroll to get me going and I have money set aside to cover living expenses. In my time off I have been studying material on limit hold'em in anticipation of my return to playing.

I am psyched to get back to the grind. If you read blogs of some pros they talk about how they cannot stand the grind of playing table poker and how they believe online play is superior. There are pros and cons to each but I much prefer table poker to the virtual brand. There is just something romantic to me about the sound of riffling chips filling the air, the feel of real cards be squeezed out between my fingers, and the counting and recounting of checks before I move them into the center of the felt. Only a degenerate would find such things romantic. From the outside looking in, the life of a poker player looks sexy. A poker player gets to make his own hours, gets to play a game for a living, and carries large amounts of cash on him at all times. In reality, sitting at a table for 8 - 14 hours or more in clothes soaked with sweat, choaking on the scent of your own body odor along with smells of all the other mopes at the table, listening to the same bad beat stories over and over again, and carrying large amounts of cash that you cannot spend because the reality is this is your working capital for the business you are in is not particularly sexy in the least bit. However, all this still appeals to me on some level that I really cannot accurately formulate. I have so much admiration for the classic players such as Doyle Brunson, Brian "Sailor" Roberts, Amarillo "Slim" Preston, Jack Strauss, Puggy Pearson, Johnny Moss, and a host of other old timers that played brutally long sessions day in and day out to make their bones. There were no books to learn from at that time so they relied on playing long hours and seeing tons of hands to develop and revise their playing strategies. In addition, they did not have the luxury of virtual play on the internet. For instance, I played over 500 hands (roughly 8 hours) of limit hold'em yesterday at mico stakes just to get my card senses flowing again. It would have taken me a 16 1/2 hour session live to see as many hands as I did online. Online you get to see nearly double the amount of hands as you do live and in this regard I give the nod to online play as being superior. In limit hold'em, my edge comes from making less mistakes than my opponents. Therefore, the more decisions they get to make, the better my expectation of making a profit. It's just like playing a table game in the pits. I may get ahead for awhile playing craps or roulette, but giving enough trials I am guaranteed to walk away with my wallet lighter. It's the same for limit hold'em provided I am playing at stakes that I can afford and against competition that I can beat. At the stakes I am currently playing I am not worried about the competition. Make no mistake about it, online poker will be part of my game plan for making this career choice work for me. However, I do not play as well online as I do in a brick and mortar card rooms. I am not about to tell you that I am a master at picking up physical tells and that's what makes me so much better than when I play online. However, I do get a better sense of where a player is at in a hand when I can look across the felt at him. For instance, online I have no idea whether the villain I am heads up with is taking a lot of time making his decision because he has a borderline decision to make, or if his connection went down, or he got a phone call, or he is surfing porn and has not realized it is his turn to act. With that said, I feel my big bets per 100 hands will be lower online compared to live play but I am still a +EV player online so it will be worth my while to play when it is not feasible to make it to one of the card rooms here in town or I just want to get in some additional hands later in the day after playing a live session. Also, I must give a nod to those who point out that I will be able to multi-table my play online. Therein, even if I expect to make less BBs per 100 hands online, playing two or more tables I will be able to multiply my win rate accordingly. You just have to have the resolve to play ABC poker since your attention will be split amongst several tables. No matter, ABC poker gets the money at low limit play online. Hell, it gets the money at table play as well until you start to get to the middle limits and above where you really need to consider your opponents' tendencies much more closely along with switching up your own play to throw off observant and astute players. Even though there are many pros to being an online pro, I cannot stomach the thought of sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. If I wanted to do that, I'd find myself a real job. Besides, like the "Mad Genius" Mike Caro said people don't take the time and effort to make their way down to the cardroom to fold...I do.

With it being Rebecca's weekend, I plan on starting my final run at this brand of employment Sunday. Not sure where I plan on playing yet. I live right across from the South Point and I may give that a shot to start off with. I plan on playing $4/$8 limit hold'em to begin with. I don't think there is a single professional playing this low but my reasoning is I want to start back slowly and really get my card sense on point before venturing higher. I would like to pad the bankroll I have set aside some so that I minimize my risk of going broke. I figure logging sufficient hours at 4$/$8 I should be able to realize a profit of $2,000 a month. I am figuring I can average roughly 2 big bets an hour since the players are so bad at these stakes. That will not make me rich anytime soon but it will pay my portion of our living expenses and allow me to add to my bankroll. And if I can't achieve 2 big bets per hour, then I will just have to log enough hours of play to ensure I make my monthly nut. I will then start taking single session shots at the bigger games to see how I fair. Hell, if I can't make $2 G's a month then I really need to put this pipe dream to bed and go find some real employment. I also think it's time to find some breakfast. Take care and check back soon for a review of my upcoming session.

Thought Of The Week 3/23 - 3/29: Soft Playing

2009-03-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is a new weekly feature I am staring on The Vegas Experiment blog. I will provide my own commentary on the things I see at the tables, or life in general, that give me pause for concern or just piss me off in some way, shape, or form. This week's thought involves friends soft playing each other at the tables.

FRIENDS SOFT PLAYING EACH OTHER

This shit would never fly with my friends back home. My buddy B. Litty just the other day informed me of an $800 pot in a local NL hold'em home game that I've been known to frequent when I'm in town. Furthermore, it was against both his and my good buddy Duck. There was no remorse in the tone of his email about the hand. Just told it like it was. He knows someday or another, he will lose in that spot. That's what makes the game such a challenge and so much fun. In fact, everyone I know would take it as a sign of disrespect, not only towards each other, but also towards all other players at the table. I believe in the saying handed down by one of the poker legends (not sure if it was Baldwin or Brunson, or was it someone else?) that goes something along the lines of "I would be willing to break my grandmother for her prescription money if she was sitting at the same table as me." Instead, the same boobs sit around and play the same lousy poker day and day out and when the pot gets heads up between them, they check it down between each other, one of them shows the nuts, and they both have a good laugh. Fuck that! Hell, that is borderline collusion. How do I know they are not working to trap me when I am in a hand that includes both of them? I believe in playing everyone as hard as possible. I mean, if we were all on the basketball court, would they take it easy on each other? Probably not. And why is that? Because they are competing and what good is competing if you don't play as hard as possible? Throw some money into the equation and I guess that principle flies out the window for some people.

I wanted to voice my concerns, but I honestly felt it would do no good. I mean, let's think about the repercussions.

1) I piss off my fishy opponents by calling bullshit. I do not think they are clever enough to collude and work together so accusing them of this would not be smart. Furthermore, they seem like fine gentlemen otherwise and the thought of working together probably never crossed their minds. All I could do is call into question how such play affects the integrity of the game, but my feeling is this ruins the friendly atmosphere that surrounds this game.

2) If I called the floor over, how exactly would I voice my concern? I mean, I know what's going on, but to tell the floor that the guy checking the nuts down to his buddy isn't going to fly. Maybe he was afraid of the flush draw or whatever that the board was showing. You can't make a guy bet his hand, and most times you don't want him to if you're behind and drawing to a probable winner.

So, instead I bite my tongue and grin and bear it. Sometimes I wish other players recognized the spirit of the game and played accordingly. On the other hand, because players do not recognize this, amongst a plethoria of other things surrounding the game, I make long term profits from their bad decisions at the table.

Go ahead and post some feedback on your thoughts on this issue. Have you ever come across this sort of thing in public card rooms or private home games? How did you or would you have handled it?

Why The River And I Do Not Get Along

2009-03-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't sleep well last night. It's hot in our bedroom and we do not have a ceiling fan. I think today we will go out and get a floor fan to keep it comfortable at least until air conditioning season falls upon us. Even though I was tired going into yesterday's session, fatigue was not a factor. Our game got going late (1:40 pm.) Maybe people were watching the morning NCAA tourney games. Not really sure, since the guys at the table didn't seem to have much interest in the games that were on while we were playing. I was happy to see 'Nova got their heads out of their asses and didn't lose to American University. That was about the only bright spot from yesterday. Today is an off day from play for me. Gonna spend the day with wifey. We have two free breakfast buffet comps at the new M Resort so we're leaving for their shortly. Hoping that their pool area is ready today because I'd like to watch some of the tourney games outside by their pool bar and grill. I could use a nice recovery day after getting beaten up yesterday by improbable draws.

Yesterday's session reminded me of the final sessions I played last year before I went broke where not much seemed to go my way.

Hand 1) In the first of my two heartbreaking beats I was in the big blind with 6-40. Limped in many spots and I check the option. Flop comes down 7-3-A. I check and it gets bet in the next position which is exactly what I want. All call and I take a card off knowing that if I flop my gin card of 5 I will be holding the nuts. The 5 does come off and I check. Again it is bet directly to my left, only a couple call, and I check-raise. The guy on my left folds and the small blind on my right calls. Another 5 falls on the river. He checks and I check behind him. I ask him if he has a boat and tables A5o for the runner-runner fives full. The 11-1 redraws and gets there after I hit my own 11-1 on the turn (what's even funnier is that I hit my gutshot twice. we all know how hard it is to hit it once. psychologically it would have been easier to take if it hit a remaining Ace.) I proceed to tilt slightly for about 10 minutes. Taking flops with poor holdings hoping to get lucky but having enough sense to muck after the flop. I could feel the heat spewing out of my track jacket by my neck.

Hand 2) I get dealt AA in first position. I should note here that I hate getting Aces UTG or up front in general. I was playing uber-tight for the hour preceding this hand but it didn't matter. I got called in 6 other spots. The flop comes down all low cards (3-8-5 rainbow.) I bet out and I am called in all but one spot. The turn pairs the board with another 3. I bet out, the guy to my left folds, the button calls, and the big blind raises. I ask for time and think about what he could have. Judging from his play, I didn't think he would call preflop with anything other than a premium hand even though he would have gotten the right odds to callwith any two. I proceed to just call, though in hindsight I think I should have reraised to try to knockout the button and get the pot heads up. The button calls and we see the river card appears to me an inconsiquental T. The big blind bets his final $6 and I know I am priced in to call. I feel the button is weak and I know he will come along anyway because the pot is so big. The big blind flips over pocket TT and rivers tens full. I show the rockets and the button shows J8s for a weak two pair. The big blind got one of his two outs on the river. What I found out later was that the guy to my left had pocket QQ and mucked on the turn. Wow, what a good fold and what terrible flop play. If he reraises me preflop I get to cap on the flop, totally giving away my hand and I may win the pot on the flop or on the turn. Just goes to show the mindset of players at this level. It takes so long to pick up premium pocket pairs and then they don't push people around with them. Instead, they price in the table to take flops with ridiculous holdings.

Oh well, I've been playing these stakes for several years and know exactly what to expect by now. I was playing with $200 lying around the house hoping to grow it before my money arrived. That didn't happen so now I will have to hold off on playing until my funds get here. I think it's for the best. It will give me time to complete the several pages left of my final paper for graduate school and with the rest of my free time brush up on some concepts in my limit hold'em books.

It should also be noted I had a wonderful weekend with my wifey. We hung out and watched the tourney games. Pulling for 'Nova, Xavier, and 'Cuse in the Sweet 16. Wifey's six team parlay lost on her first game. That made me laugh. Maybe some day she'll learn to just pick a game and just play it. The bingo parlor offers better odds than her parlay cards.

Hours Played This Session: 4
Gave: $144
$ Per Hour: -$36

Earn:
Month to Date: -$123
Year to Date: -$123
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$7.81
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 15.75
Sessions Played Year to Date: 3
Win/Loss Record by Session: 1/2 33.3%

Settling Back In

2009-03-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

I'm truly exhausted. Don't have it in me tonight to give you the blow by blow for this session. Suffice it to say, it was much like yesterday's. Played my usual style and had a couple big hands not hold up in big pots.

Briefly, flopped top two pair with QJo. The board came with two hearts, so that combined with the flop being coordinated I played the hand fast and rammed it. I got ran down by an ATs in spades. I know what you're thinking and it's much worse than that. He didn't hit his gutshot on me which is approximately 5.5 - 1 to come in by the river, but rather he went runner-runner to the nut flush with is approximately 23 - 1 to come by the river. I blame the way he played it on the flop, but once that second spade hits the board he is getting the right odds to take a card off and see the river. He has great implied odds in that if he misses either his spade or the jacks he can muck quite easily while if he hits any spade or 3 out of 4 jacks his also makes the nuts (the jack of hearts would give him a straight but give me a possible flush.) I had a feeling I was beat when he bet into me on the river. However, I didn't expect him to say "I've got the nuts." I didn't even see the back door flush possibility. Goes to show I'm still a bit rusty but my instincts were still there.

On another hand I am holding the two red kings early position. The UTG limps in and I raise. Another player cold calls, the big blind comes along, and the limper completes. The flop comes down with three spades. Early position player checks, I bet, two folds back to UTG player and he calls. He bet out on the turn when a blank fell and I raised him. He smoothe called me. Now I was really confused. I was ready to muck if he three bet it back to me being that I was drawing dead to a flush at that point. The river brings the king of spades, putting 4 to the flush on the board and giving me top set. UTG checks and I check behind and he tables the 34 of spades to my three kings and takes the pot down with the 4 of spades to complete the flush. I figured out after the hand that when I raised him on the turn, he thought I might have a bigger flush. I kinda felt that he would have check raised me in that spot if he had the goods and thought the leading at the pot was meant to scare me off so I trusted my gut and raised him, just in case he was holding the ace of spades and was betting a draw. I wanted to charge him the maximum price. Turns out he was worried I was doing the same thing and when the king of spades fell on the end it scared him. Looking back I should have made one last stab at the pot because I was pretty sure at this point that would be the only way I could take it down. He check showed weakness and I should have picked up on that. My spidey senses are just starting to come back to me, so again this is a learning moment. In a big pot that I showed a lot of aggression in, I should have made one last play at the pot. I only have to pick it up once in probably 7 or 8 times to show a profit.

Other than those two notable hands I lost, the winning ones I showed down were nothing special. Just playing good cards in good position and value betting them as much as possible. It seemed like a long session today. Not sure why though. I used to be able to play 10 - 12 hour sessions without it phasing me. Hoping that I am just getting back into the swing of things and that my stamnia will improve with time.

Hours Played This Session: 5.75
Take: $54
$ Per Hour: $9.39

Earn:
Month to Date: $21
Year to Date: $21
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $1.79
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 11.75
Sessions Played Year to Date: 2
Win/Loss Record by Session: 1/1 50.0%

Day 1 All Over Again

2009-03-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been awhile. Some parts of the game felt natural, others didn't. The six hour session got to me. I used to never get up. Today, I made sure to take two breaks so that I could clear my head and stretch my legs. I'm not in poker playing shape. Hell, I'm not in any kind of shape at the moment. To put it mildly, I'm fat. But, I'm very proud of how I played. My cards picked up where they left off last year with two distinct exceptions which I'll get to in due time. First, I want to sum up the session. What sticks in my mind is that I didn't tip a dealer for 4 straight dealer changes. I wasn't keeping track but usually a dealer sits at a table for 20 minutes at minimum. I figure I had a stretch where I folded nearly every hand for 90 minutes. The hands I did play were mucked after the flop. Yet, I was able to persevere and battle through the frustration. Small win usually, big win when you are getting back after a long layoff.

OK, I'm not a fan of bad beat stories. This blog is all about telling it like it is, or at the very least how I perceived the reality of the situation. So, with no further ado, my two tales from this session end with the hero (me) winning the pot (yay!) The first hand was a bit weird. I was in late position with pocket 88. Multiple limpers in front of me, I think about 4 with me in the cut off. The button and blinds come along and it feels like a family affair. Flop comes with me holding an over pair. Well, I only have eights so that means at the very least it is a semi-coordinated board. Actually, I'm holding a gutshot with board showing 7-5-4. I think it came rainbow but no matter because with my position I'm gonna ram it and jam it on the flop. Someone up front bets it and as usual in this game everyone calls because it's a small bet. I bump it up a unit and mostly everyone behind me comes along as well. This gives me pause for concern. I could be looking at two pair, a set, or a well priced in straight draw. A king comes on the turn and it's checked to me. I check along thinking that if it gets bet and I get to close the action I'll take flyer on the gut shot. It wasn't. A jack comes on the river and I know for sure I'm mucking if it's bet. It isn't. I check along and so do the two players behind me. The dealer asks for us to show a winner so I flip first. Being that I made the last aggresive action I abide by etique and show first. Reluctantly some muck and others show their meek holdings such as A4o and A5o. I'm amazed that I get to take down a decent sized pot with not much of a hand. The player to might right comments that I've been very patient and deserved the pot. Patience doesn't deserve dick. Each hand is unique unto itself and I'm pleased to take a nice pot that I thought I might not get.

Fast forward 20 minutes and this time I'm on the button. I look down at KJs. For those of you that know me you know that KJ is my least favorite broadway hand. Two limpers in front of me and I call on the button. The small comes along and the big checks the option. The flop comes down J-J-Q with 2 spades. The first player bets, the second calls and I make it 2 bets. The blind fold and the 2 players with money in the pot call. The case J comes on the turn and I'm sitting on the nuts. The first player bets into me and I'm dumbfounded. To further add to my delight the middle player calls and I smoothe call. The river is a meaningless card (I was hoping for a third spade in case one of them is drawing at the flush) and again the first player bets and the middle player calls. I raise knowing I can't be beat. The first player thinks for about a minute and calls. The middle player mucks and I show the goods. He shows AQo for the best house which isn't close to being good enough. I take down a monster pot and thank the poker gods for my great position and even better turn card. I gave this hand much thought and could not determine how the first player thought his hand was good. I was playing uber-tight and only pushing my hands when they were good. It goes to show that at this level table image means nothing. I'm going to use this as a lesson in that I will remain tight-aggressive and play with position whenever possible. Players at this level fail to get past the first level of thinking which is "what do I have?" Most do not give much thought to what their opponent has. This is fundamental flaw amongst these players, along with playing terrible hands out of position and not raising with good hands preflop to limit the field. Well, admittedly that rarely works at this level but I'd rather get more money in with an edge than just limp with a premium hand and allow my opponents to a chance to see a cheap flop with rags. Pushing any perceivable edge is the key to maximizing poker profits. This is especially true in low limit hold'em where opponents are getting near to the right price to draw many times with meager holdings.

The only other hand I feel I should metion comes with me in the big blind. I check my option to raise holding A6o. The flop comes down with A-8-6 with 2 spades. I check in first position, a middle player bets and another middle position player calls. I check raise forcing out the two early position players who checked. The other 2 players with money in the pot call. The turn brings a T of spades and I check. The next player bets and the other player drops out. Heads up we go the river. Another T falls and now I'm in a shitty spot. My thinking goes as follows: 1) I didn't fill up, 2) the villain may have a flush, & 3) if the villain has an A, then his 2 pair trumps mine (I have As and Ts with a 6, he has As and Ts with a better kicker. I check and fold to his river bet. I muck my A6 face up hoping to get a read on whether I was beat. He doesn't give anything away when I do so but I think the fact that he doesn't show me a bluff or a lesser hand confirms that he was good. He seemed like the kind of player that plays more for the thrill of the hunt than the satisfaction of the kill. In other words, if he got me off a better hand he would have shown it to me. I'm pretty sure I would have called a river bet if my hand had not been counterfeited. Maybe the T on the end saved me $8, maybe it cost me one last big bet. I'm almost certain he had the flush which leaves me drawing to 4 outs (2 As and 2 6s.) If I fill up I think I can gain an extra big bet on the river, so I felt I was paying $8 on the turn to make $16 on the river. That taken with the size of the pot gave me the proper implied odds to take a card off in that spot.

All in all I felt I played a great session. Most low limit players would have gotten bored or frustrated by folding pre-flop so many times and would have started playing poor hands due to lack of discipline. I believe that it's all one long session. The next hand has no memory of the hands that came before it. If I fold 50 times in a row, it has no bearing on the next hand. If I go on a rush and take down 5 pots in a row I am no more likely to take down the next one. Hand value in relation to position and other players' actions are the key to making money at this game. Today refenforced that even though I left the table a small loser. In all honesty, I felt like a winner today. Can't wait to play tomorrow.

I'm starting from scratch on my figures for this new run, leaving out the career earnings. I feel they are meaningless. I don't need to prove to you that I am a winning player throughout my lifetime. Those of you that know me know that I've posted profits from my play over the last several years. Rather, the purpose of this blog is to keep records of how I am doing in the present. If any of you have feedback on figures that I can provide that will give more perspective on my play please let me know and I will include them here. This blog is both for your entertainment and my professional progression. Let's make it a win-win.

Hours Played This Session: 6.0
Gave: $33
$ Per Hour: -$5.50

Earn:
Month to Date: -$33
Year to Date: -$33
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$5.50

Act I, Scene II: A Second Attempt

2009-03-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last year I went on a really bad run and never published the results. I put the card playing career on hold. In a fit, I trashed my Stat King records so I can't even go back and update the blog with the results of that run. If memory serves me correctly, I think I gave away about $600 in a five day span. I wasn't properly funded at the time and have since worked some odd jobs in the fitness industry over the past 8 months. Recently, I've come into some money. I won't get too deep into how that came about other than my grandfather passed unexpectedly and he was generous enough in death to provide me with a better life. I would give back every penny if I could in return for just one more day or one last conversation. I wish I had been able to make him a little more proud of me. I don't feel like I accomplished enough while he was here. Now I need to honor him with how I live my life from here on out. I'm not sure he would approve of playing cards for a living, but it's a dream of mine to do so and that's what I will pursue for now. Being adequately bankrolled for the first time in my life, I believe that will be the key to being successful. I will be able to make the plays that I believe are correct and not worry about going broke. That confidence will be huge. If I happen to dig up my lost records I will be sure to post them for all to see. I really wish I had kept them because I would like to review them. I'm pretty sure it was a case of variance, which I know works both ways. You're never as good as you think you are when you're running well and you're never as bad or as unlucky as you believe you are when things are falling apart around you. I'm going to try to keep that in mind as I attack this game for a second time. One other note, I will be able to play as many hours as I like this time around. In the beginning, I was taking Rebecca to and from work and that cut into my table time. Being that we both have our own transportation now, there are no excuses for not logging a ton of hours. I plan on playing a nice long session today and we'll see what comes of it. I'll post again later tonight when I get back with all the juicy tidbits of the session while they are still fresh in my mind.

It's good to be back. Wish me luck even though I don't believe in it.

PS - below I was able to dig up a draft of a post I was working on when I went bust. I've published it below. It is very rough but I wanted to keep it that way since updating it now would take some of the angst out of it being that I've been removed from that feeling for quite awhile.

Rough Patch (final post from last year)

2008-06-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Just found this draft of a blog from my demise last year. It doesn't provide all the figures at the bottom but it gives you the gist of what transpired.

I haven't won a session in a week. I am down to the felt for the time being so it looks like I will have to pick up some type of regular work to pay my share of the bills. I only lasted one month as a full time pro, so that really has me depressed. and the thing of it is I literally watched in astonishment as river after river brought my opponent a three or four outer. in another spot, I had my Aces cracked by a J9o and a three handed pot where it was only a limper in middle position, the small blind, and me in the big blind. I raised to build the pot and they both came along. the flop is jack high, I bet and only the limper calls. the turn brings a nine and I get check raised. I should have just mucked there but when you've been card dead for a week you just get attached to your lonely pair of Aces that take 221 hands to appear. about 30 minutes after that hand and I was down to my last $50 I picked up AJs in middle position and decided to limp because I had been raising with all my good hands (AK 5x being suited 3x and only winning one pot out of those holdings.) Only the small blind completes and the big blind checks and the flop comes Jack high. it was bet in first position, called by the big blind, and I called with the strategy of raising on the turn. turn looked safe, the first position checks, the big blind bets, I raise (which also works to hopefully limit the hand to a heads up confrontation) and the small blind folds. the big blind calls and the river comes with a Queen. the big blind checks and I bet, he calls and I show what I believe to be the winning hand of a pair of Jacks with the boss kicker. he tables 26o for a deuce through six straight. I am dumbfounded at what has transpired over the past week. and I am now broke to go with it.

"I'm down to the felt Knish."

But I still believe in my skills and abilities and I will be back in the game soon enough. I just hate the thought of actually having to get a real job which requires regular hours and the like.

The First Losing Session Of The Month

2008-06-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

I've been on a bit of a roll to start of this month. Things really just couldn't go wrong. Usually, I find that I win but always feel like I should have won more had I not been sucked out on so much. For the first two weeks of this month, I was the one sucking out when behind (but I was also having most of my strong hands stand up to boot.) The past two days have seen a role reversal. On Tuesday, I couldn't make a hand stand up and was getting beat by two and three outers in big pots. Tuesday if luck had run average I would have come home about $150 ahead. but since my luck was running so good before, I know this is just part of the deal. when the dust settles and the numbers get back in line with how the probablities predict them, I know I'll be ahead of the game through superior hand selection and post-flop play. Well, at least until I build my bankroll and then move up in stakes. then we will see how I match up against the better competition. Wednesday I persevered and finally scratched and clawed my way back to water level.

Yesterday was more of the same. for the four hours I sat there, I was card dead for 3 1/2 hours worth of the session. the kind of stretch is meaningless in the long run, but to fold hand after hand for three hours gets kind of monotonous. every time I found a hand in a position where I thought I could be the first in and take control somebody in front of me beat me to the punch. There was an Asian man two seats to my right who I had played with on Wednesday and knew that he liked to raise without the needed hand values (hands like ATo and KJo) but I couldn't find a hand of my own to make it three bets to go when he bumped it up. There was an Asian lady four seats to my right that was also raising way to much. Alas, I never could find the goods to isolate either of them the way I would have liked. I worked my stack all the way down to the felt and then after putting another $50 on the table I worked my stack back up to where I started. Then an interesting hand came up and I am not sure if I played it correctly. I will go over it in detail and I welcome any feedback you may have as to how I could have played it better.

The table is down to six players at this point and the aforementioned Asian lady has just won her second pot in a row to make it a kill game of $6/$12. She is in middle position and it gets folded around to me on the button. I look down at Q8s in diamonds and decide that with position I am going to raise and isolate her. Preflop the plan works to perfection as the $12 to go gets the blinds out of the way and I am now heads up with an overly aggressive player. the flop comes down 8-T-x rainbow and I have flopped middle pair. She checks to me and I bet hoping to pick up the pot right there but if not I am still pretty sure I have her beat at the moment. I thought I sensed weakness in her call. the turn brings another 8 and I bet out again. This time she raises me. My read was that she had also hit the 8 with me but had a lesser kicker. I re-raised her and she played back at me again. Ut-oh. well, I am not totally sure I am beat or drawing dead at this point since she was so aggressive she could have made that play with an 8 since I felt her read of me was I had a big pocket pair since I raised preflop and had been playing so tight the entire session. I flat called her raise and called her river bet. she turned over pocket tens for a flopped set and a turned boat, leaving me drawing dead to an 8 on the river. by the way, the river was a meaning card but thankfully not a Q. I would have lost another couple of big bets (actually bigger bets since these were $12 increments due to the kill) had that occurred. Replaying the hand in my head the only spot I am not sure about re-raising her raise on the turn. but rather than second guess myself, I feel it is much better to trust your instincts and reads. otherwise, why try to play the game at a high level if you do not try to push your edges when you perceive you have one. maybe I should have gotten up after weathering the storm and getting my stack back, but the opposite could have also been true. I could be telling you about how my read was spot on and I won an additional rack after being down all day. hey, it's one long session anyway, so as long as the game is good and I am not tilting or tired, I should be in there battling away. I did feel like I got sucker punched after that hand and left the table shortly there after to pick up the real bread winner of the house.

In closing, it must be said that LAG Asian lady had the best hand start to finish. it goes that way sometimes, but I would still raise in that spot with those cards ten times out of ten. With position and the dead money in the blinds I feel like that spot is a long term money winner for me. My read was off this time, but hopefully as a result it will become sharper and I will become more aware. I'm experienced enough to know that when the board pairs there is a certain likelihood of a 'house at the showdown and that was what I fully expected to see in this hand as well after the turn betting sequence. but with the pot so big, as David Sklansky would say it would be a "mathematical catestrophe" to lay throw away the winner for one more bet. getting about 8 to 1 on the call, I only have to be right one in nine times. I can almost guarantee that she would have played trip 8's the same way in this spot so after further review I am not so disgusted with my play. just a little bummed.

here are figures for the week to date. looks like I'm treading water at the moment.

(6/15)
Hours Played This Session: 2.75
Take: $161
$ Per Hour: $58.55

Earn:
Month to Date: $771
Year to Date: $1,011
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $13.62
Career Earnings: $1,628

(6/17)
Hours Played This Session: 3.25
Take: $6
$ Per Hour: $1.85

Earn:
Month to Date: $777
Year to Date: $1,017
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $13.13
Career Earnings: $1,634

(6/18)
Hours Played This Session: 4
Gave: -$105
$ Per Hour: -$26.25

Earn:
Month to Date: $672
Year to Date: $912
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $11.19
Career Earnings: $1,529

Living Right

2008-06-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

No bad beat stories here. Actually, I think I am on the right side of variance for once. I've always believed that you're not as bad as you seem to be when things are running bad and you're not as good you appear to be when you're getting beaten over the head by the deck. I just try and maintain a levelness that Andy Reid would be envious of. with that said, the regulars I play against are just plain bad. most are weak tight calling stations. they can't get away from top pair, decent kicker to a check raise from a player (that would be me) who has a stack of their chips in front of him and hasn't shown a bad hand all session, let alone not too many in the two weeks I've been playing with them. but who am I to complain since the money is flowing in my direction? I'll save that for when they start to suck out on me. I was rolling through my session yesterday and would have been pleased to spend my entire day there and break every single one of them, but duty called in the shape of wifey getting done her shift early. I decided to take my daily nut and run over to Quinn's Irish Pub for a couple of dunkel weisses (I know, I know, German beer doesn't seem right in an Irish establishment.) my regular bartender Danny wasn't there (Tuesday and Wednesday are his vegas weekend) so Franky was taking care of me today. turns out, Franky is a regular no limit player and we got to talking. he was psyched to find out that not only do I play, but I have a sense of ego control about my play in that I am always looking to improve my game. he asked if I read and in between sips of my wheat ale I knodded in the affirmative. He pulled out a copy of Alan Schoonmaker, Ph. D.'s The Psychology of Poker from behind the bar and asked if I had read it yet. I replied that I had book that very book for my father a couple of Christmas's ago but I, myself, had not yet had the opportunity to study it. I've attached the link to Amazon.com so if you want to check it out just click on the image below. It looks like I may have finally found a running partner and poker buddy to share my experiences with locally out here. he asked me about record keeping and I told him I use Statking (mentioned in my first blog entry) and how much I loved it. he said he was still keeping records by hand. I offered to lend him my copy to upload and a friendship was born. maybe I'll get some free frosty beverages out of it as well :-) I'm honestly amped about maybe having someone to talk to about strategy and all the other things that surround playing poker at a profitable level consistently over the long haul.

on another note, I've decided to change the heading Total Bankroll under my record keeping section at the bottom of each post to Career Earnings since total bankroll is a bit misleading since I use a portion of my winnings to pay my living expenses. I will from time to time let you know how my cash on hand has grown and when I've decided to jump in limit. I plan on keeping this a very gradual process. once i have about a G in my safe at home, will take a single stab at a bigger game probably once per week but keep my regular play at the limit I am at. hopefully the Peter Principle does not pertain to me for quite a while as I'd like to get up to at least the $20/$40 game within a year. for those not familiar, the concept states that people are promoted to their level of incompentcy. I don't want to self limit myself in how high I think I will be able to play at my skills progress, but with that said I am not going to work for years moving up higher and higher only to find a level that I cannot beat and go broke. I'd rather make a living playing $20/$40 or $30/$60 rather than play $100/$200 and be asking for loans all the time because I ran myself down to the felt. That is a rather long time off but I figured I'd go on a rant about it now since I am on the topic. I am also going to work on my no limit skills once I build my bankroll up since there are always soft no limit games going around the clock. I decided to forego the $45 buy-in no limit tourney today. I'm feeling really good about my cash game play and want to stay focused on it. I think I am capable of switching mindsets from tourney play to limit cash game play, but I fear that I may take a bad beat in the tourney and not be in the right mind set to play my A game come ring game time. my paltry bankroll can't afford that right now.

I wanted to make a quick mention of my title for this entry. What I mean by living right is I am using my winnings and taking care of my personal responsibilities rather than blowing my profits on less than useful things like toys or sports wagers. It makes me feel good to know I am doing the right thing and that transcends itself into my play. I go into each session feeling good about my life outside of the green baize and I think it reflects in my play. I don't feel the need to play small pairs upfront or suited connectors in the same spots when the game conditions do not call for it. it's not to say I won't play those types of hands from there, but the conditions must be right. if I even have one loose aggressive player at the table these types of hands can become unprofitable since I may not get the multiway action I need to get paid off in many spots should I hit my hand hard.

Yesterday's figures for your review:

(6/11)

Hours Played This Session: 1.58

Take: $134

$ Per Hour: $84.81

Earn:

Month to Date: $587

Year to Date: $850

Hourly Rate Year to Date: $11.89

Career Earnings: $1,467

PS - I'd like to thank GVR for the nifty travel ID holders they provided the players of the poker room with a couple days ago. while they are quite touristy, they will come in handy for holding a passport, Id, some cash, credit cards, and travelers checks should we go on vacation out of the country. I've provided a scanned image below. it's meant to be worn around your neck and tucked under your shirt so that you cannot get pick pocketed and be SOL. got one for wifey too :-)

Sometimes Things Go Right

2008-06-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty copacetic the past three days. Biggest win of the campaign followed by a break even day, followed by (what I hope to be my average daily take) win of $100. I feel like I am starting to see the game three plays ahead now, just like I used to see the game when I played soccer. I am starting to sense when my medium pocket pair is good even though an overcard has fallen and I am up against two other opponents. I am beginning to pay attention to things like who is willing to muck their hands after the flop if they don't connect and who is going to call you down with bottom pair or ace high. it adds to my bottom line by being able to run a bluff (or shoot a second barrel on fourth street) against the first player while against the second player betting for value and realizing that I am going to have to check the flop in position and take a free card or check in first position and hope the opponent checks behind me. I'm learning which of the regulars are calling stations and which actually have some balls and will run a play at you from time to time. So far, I have not come to be resented by any of the regulars even though I tend to walk away with an extra rack or more than what I showed up with. I've even gotten comfortable enough to start telling jokes and have some fun while still staying focused on the action and taking mental notes. in essence, my game is starting to come around on levels outside of how to play particular hands in certain situations. saying all this, i hope i don't tank my session today. I will be going in feeling pretty confident since I am making my second bank deposit of winnings since I've started playing. I do get a rush carrying around or having on hand in the house a bunch of big bills, but the last thing I need is for somebody to break into our apartment (by either getting past our deadbolted front door or jimming our sliding door which has a single hook as the deterrent for unwanted house guests) and cleaning me out. after all I am more-the-less self-employed and currency is the commodity I trade in.

That being a good segue into my next topic. I've worked out my monthly nut and it looks like I will need to make around $1,500 per month to keep on top of my current obligations which include student loans, car insurance, my portion of the rent, cell phone, and credit card payments. the figure I've assigned to the credit cards payments will have them paid off in about 3 months. fornuately the car insurance is paid for 4 consecutive months and then I have 2 months without payments before the cycle repeats. I ran some figures through Statking using an hourly rate of $21 and a bankroll of $750 to get my monthly nut of $1,500. the chance of ruin (aka going broke) was roughly 10% so I'm about a 1-9 favorite to make it assuming the figures I entered are close to being correct (garbage in garbage out so I used a conservative hourly rate of $21 although my actual current win rate at GVR where I pretty much play exclusively now is $28.96. that being said, my sample size is minute with only 31 hours played there so far. still I feel confident about my play and about the weakness of my opponents at this venue.) $21 per hour is exactly 2 5/8 big bets per hour. it sounds really high but at this level of competition I think it's pretty accurate. I actually hope to be earning more that $1,500 per month so that I can do things like build my bankroll or enjoy such luxuries as buying groceries, going binge drinking or playing a 5 team parlay. I actually plan on adding some low buy-in tournies to my repetoire to see if I can build my bankroll further. GVR has a 10 am tourney with a $45 buy-in that regulary pays about $500 to the winner. from what i've noticed, there is normally a deal made so getting in the final three would be worth a little over $300. and the tourney would start about 2 hours ahead of the $4/$8 game getting going, so I'd be able to hop right into that either after getting busted or making it to the money. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. may play in my first morning tourney tomorrow (depending how I do today.)

OK, enough chat, I've got to get to the bank and then make my way to my office. my colleagues will be expecting me. the past three days are below:

(6/8)
Hours Played This Session: 3
Take: $191
$ Per Hour: $63.67

Earn:
Month to Date: $359
Year to Date: $599
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $9.16
Total Bankroll: $1,216

(6/9)
Hours Played This Session: 2.5
Take: $10
$ Per Hour: $4

Earn:
Month to Date: $369
Year to Date: $609
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $8.97
Total Bankroll: $1,226

(6/10)
Hours Played This Session: 2
Take: $107
$ Per Hour: $53.50

Earn:
Month to Date: $476
Year to Date: $716
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $10.24
Total Bankroll: $1,333

It's Not Gambling Anymore...

2008-06-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

...It's become a test of how unlucky I can get. I say that tongue in cheek, but quite frankly I'm getting used to the swings of this line of work. They don't quite make me as hot under the collar as when I was a greenhorn a month ago. I guess it's like any job. It takes a month or two to find out the quirks and nuances of the gig. I'm getting used to the swings and roller coaster rides that make up the profession. I've gotten rivered more times than I can count and I've in turn rivered countless opponents. problem is, I keep getting rivered in big pots and rivering opponents in smaller ones. makes for a frustating time but luck will no doubt even out and my superior play will pay dividends much like the house edge eats away at the mopes in the pits. I also had my first taste of collusion, though I noticed it too late in the session to pick up on it. only after retrospect did I realize that I got shut out of a huge pot by two playes in cahoots. I knew it would happen sooner or later but now I know how to pick up on it. Turns out they usually sit next to one another and bet and raise in big pots to make it difficult for opponents in late position to capitalize on the inherent advantage that position allows for. Canada Bill Jones was once asked why he played in a crooked game and his response was "it was the only game in town." sometimes it feels that way when only one table of the game you play is spread and there are enough fish at the table to still make it worth your while. the lesson to be learned is, sometimes when you suspect it you have to call down a double bet when normal card sense would suggest you through away your hand. it will add to your variance, but in the long run will still add to your bottom line as you pick up more money in pots where you might only win a single additional bet.

anyway, the story i was going to write was supposed to be laden with how i have been surveying the poker scene on the strip and telling you how i found some soft spots loaded with tourists with heavy wallets. i found that at the venetian but that is also where i found the team play going on. buyer be ware.

(6/4 - MGM Grand $3/$6 limit hold'em))
Hours Played This Session: 3
Take: $1
$ Per Hour: $0.33

Earn: Month to Date: $146
Year to Date: $386
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $6.50
Total Bankroll: $1,003

(6/5- Venetian $4/$8 limit hold'em)
Hours Played This Session: 3
Take: $22
$ Per Hour: $7.33

Earn:
Month to Date: $168
Year to Date: $408
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $6.54
Total Bankroll: $1,025

Grinding - Days 14 - 18

2008-05-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

Just as I'm starting to find my groove the World Series of Poker rolls into town. Now I don't have any aspirations of playing any WSOP events this year but I can still hear the siren song and cannot resist heading down to the Rio to watch. While this is great fun and can be a bit of learning experience if you are able to watch a particular table for long enough or follow a favorite player around for a day to watch how he handles himself, it doesn't do much to put money in my billfold.

Finally getting around to post the results of 4 days worth of play my mind is blank trying to think back to all the hands I played, all the beats I took, and the lucky rivers I caught to suck out. Overall, I feel like I am steadily improving. Things I am doing better are timely bluffing when I sense weakness, and continued betting when Im not quite sure where I'm at. After all, when you bet or raise there are two ways to win, when you call you must show down the best hand.

Other than that, the grind is starting to become just that. I work my ass off for session only to take some beats right before I leave and then I have nothing to show for my time at the table. Hey, at least recently they've still been wins and not losses. Like I always say, it much easier to report back to the missus and inform her that I had an inconsequential win rather than an inconsequential loss. Somehow, the losses aren't ever inconsequential.

The month of May is in the books and I posted a postive $240 increase to the bankroll. I'm actually really happy with that figure believe it or not since I pissed away a little less than that much in the Sunset Station version of $4/$8 before feeling out GVR and deciding it was the game for me. I've also learned that the mid-day game at GVR allows for me to play a much more confident game than does the evening game. At night, the opponents are looser and more aggressive (and many times drunk or on the verge.) With a bigger bankroll, this will be a better investment of my time as I will show a greater profit over the long haul, but for now I like the safety and comfort of the old farts during the day. they never check-raise me; they rarely raise me with clearly the best hand when they have position and I donk it into them. yet, they still continuely call me down with their weaker holdings. I get to be the bully during the day while at night I sometimes get my lunch money stolen from me. Hopefully June will provide a lot of good results for me. I'm off to a decent start but still yearn to put in more hours. The game didn't get going to 1:15 pm today which only gives me 2 - 3 hours (depending on how hungry I get) to make my money for the day. that turns out to be a lot of pressure.

Fun facts for my play at GVR for the month of May:
total sessions played:
Win/Loss:7/1 (87.5% winning percentage)
Total hours played: 19
Hourly Win Rate: $23.18/hr
Total Win: $442

It's so easy to provide stats that make you feel good. But feeling good usually translates into playin well. You can check out the daily numbers for the past 4 playing days below:

(5/27)

Hours Played this session: 3.25

Gave: $32

$ Per Hour: -$9.95

Earn:

Month to Date: $54

Year to Date: $54

Hourly Rate Year to Date: $1.12

Total Bankroll: $671

(5/29)
Hours Played this session: 2
Take: $84
$ Per Hour: $42

Earn: Month to Date: $138
Year to Date: $138
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $2.74
Total Bankroll: $755

(5/30)

Hours Played this session: 1.75

Take: $102

$ Per Hour: $58.29

Earn:

Month to Date: $240

Year to Date: $240

Hourly Rate Year to Date: $4.61

Total Bankroll: $857

(6/1)

Hours Played This Session: 2.33

Take: $126

$ Per Hour: $54.08

Earn:

Month to Date: $126

Year to Date: $366

Hourly Rate Year to Date: $6.73

Total Bankroll: $983

(6/2)
Hours Played This Session: 2

Take: $19

$ Per Hour: $9.50

Earn:
Month to Date: $145
Year to Date: $385
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $6.83
Total Bankroll: $1,002

A Soft Seat in Queens - Day 13

2008-05-27T10:22:00.001-07:00

"We get outta here, get some coffee, ride over to that soft seat in Queens..." Joey Knish to Mikey McDermott, from the screenplay Rounders.

That's the advice I took yesterday when I headed back to GVR. My style of play works very well against the loose passive locals of Henderson. My session, though, started off brutal. I got myself involved in a pot with pocket 77 against a loose aggressive opponent. the flop came down 10-9-x. In first position I checked it figuring my opponent would be with completely nothing. although, this board is very much in the playable range for any opponent, I still decided I was going to check raise. I had been playing tight and aggressive for the first 90 minutes so there was also no reason for my opponent to doubt that I had the goods, other than that I might wait till the turn to pull the trigger. My opponent called and a 7 fell off the deck on the turn. It improved my hand considerably but it still gave me that feeling you get when the card that just came off helped your opponent more than it helped you. I lead out on the turn and got raised. hmmm, was I looking at a made straight, a semi-bluff, two pair, or a bigger set? I didn't think my opponent was capable of bluff raising in this spot since I showed so much strength with the check-raise on the flop. the river brought a little card and I checked to my opponent who set me in for my last $8 (I should have just bet out anyway.) he showed top two pair (10-9) and I scooped the pot by hitting my two outer on the turn. I was way behind on the flop so for once I was the donkey who sucked out...and it felt satisfying to catch a break finally. I parlayed that pot which took me from the felt to over $80 and it felt like I caugth some momentum. In one of the strangest pots I've ever played I check in the BB with Q9o and the flop comes 9 high. I bet out on the flop into 6 callers hoping to get a couple to drop out; they all stay. the turn card still keeps me with top pair but now the board is much more coordinated. I bet out again and get three callers. the river brings an 8 and now once again I believe I'm so far behind. I check, the player to my left checked (passive calling station) and the player from the previous hand I detailed bets out. the pot was huge and I figured I had plenty of a hand to call him. I also figured the player behind me would not overcall with anything less that two pair. my opponent showed a smaller 9 and had not paired his kicker. the player behind me shows J8o for middle pair, and my Q90 hold up to win a monster pot.

It's so ironic that junk hands at times win huge pots like that while I had my Aces cracked once again. this time it was a bit my fault since I did not bet the turn when the betting doubles to $8. I gave an opponent a free card and he spiked a set on me (crazy enough, he hit is two outer to a set of 7s.) the flop came down Q-J-x with two spades. when I bet I got called in two spots, but I wussed out and did not bet the turn like I am supposed to. I deserved to lose the pot for making that mistake. I cannot allow a free draw to the spades and I must protect me hand. don't know what I was thinking, but lesson learned. thankfully the pot was not huge so the tuition for this course didn't put me on tilt...too much :-)

"show him what he won Johnny!!"

Hours Played this session: 3.66
Take: $83
$ Per Hour: $22.68

Earn: Month to Date: $86
Year to Date: $86
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $1.91
Total Bankroll: $703

Poker Lessons At Bellagio - Day 12

2008-05-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

I decided to head to the Strip yesterday in search of tourists looking to blow their money over the holiday weekend. I was not disappointed with the amount of volume I found. I first made my way over to Caesar's Palace since I read in a post on http://www.allvegaspoker.com/ that the $4/$8 game there was very soft. The place was teeming with people with full wallets blowing their hard earned cash in the pits and on the one arm bandits. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the poker room at about 11 there was not even a list of interest for the game. I worked my way out of the cavernous casino resort (getting lost and turned about a couple of times) and worked my way across Flamingo to Bellagio where I knew there would be plenty of games going on. Not surprisingly, the poker room was jammed when I arrived. I waited about 15 minutes for the floor staff to organize a new $4/$8 game and soon I was taking flops in the hallowed room graced with photos of poker legends past and present. I was sitting one table over from where Rebecca and I had watched Gus Hansen play in the WPT $25,000 Championship event. I smiled inwardly about how very cool that was. That didn't last too long though as the game was brisker than any limit game I had ever played. I was running my starting stack down when I picked up AKs in diamonds under the gun and raised. the player to my left was a dealer at Bellagio and playing real fast like many dealers do (they like to think they can outplay you after the flop so they take the lead whenever they can.) a girl who had just sat down in the game made it three bets and a WPT brat made it four bets because he liked to gamble and jam up the pots. Five bets is the cap at Bellagio and I decided to go that route since I figured one of the two players behind me would do so anyway. The flop came down King high with two diamonds. I could vaguely here Vince Van Patton saying something about show tunes going off in my head. I bet out figuring to get raised but instead I got called in two spots (the dealer and the chick.) the turn was one of my money cards as another King hit the board. I lead again and this time only the girl called me. the river was meaningless and I bet again. she called me down and I showed her my trip Kings. she got steamy and turned over Aces. hey, for once I drew out on the rockets. I also drew out on them a bit later holding 77 in the big blind when it was folded around to the button who raised. I reraised thinking it was a steal raise plus any time I am playing against the button when he raises I want to play back at him and get the big blind to fold. long story short, a 7 falls on the flop and I get what little money I had left in by the river beat the rockets. but alas, I had my own Aces get cracked when WPT kid called my early position raise with Q4s in spades and flopping a flush. He outplayed me on the turn and the river but I figured he was just being an idiot like I had seen him play earlier hands. the tell tale sign should have been when he pounded the table to check and when I bet he would call. i truly thought he was trying to put on a reverse tell since this kid had a serious case of fancy play syndrome. the following odds are provided by Mike Caro at http://www.poker1.com/:

The probability that a flush will flop if you hold suited cards...

Expressed in percent (%) is: 0.84
The odds against it are: 118 to 1

I can now say that I got ran down by a 118 to 1 long shot :-)

The lesson I got out of this session which I paid a tuition of $88 for was that in very loose aggressive games fluctations are much greater and you cannot let that affect your decision making. You just need to adjust your game by pushing your edges when you're ahead to earn the maximum since so many times you will have to call down bets on the river and payoff tricky players when you are holding a marginal hand. Also, choosing a seat is key. With only one tricky aggressive player at the table I would do my best to get on his left. this game had several so I wasn't sure where I should move to should the opportunity arise so I stayed put for the session. my bankroll is not quite ready for serious amusement park rides so I will go back to playing at the locals shops like GVR where they are not as fast with their money and I am actually considered an aggressive player in the games. I like having that image of being a tough aggressive solid player without really getting away from solid ABC fundamentals. the local players tend to be passive calling stations. I still need a lot of work on my game when it comes to playing against more than one very loose aggresive player. The Bellagio game I played in was dominated by young guns with way too much money to burn and with too many hours of watching televised poker tournies under their belts. they were looking to gamble and doing silly things like raising blind and straddling and then playing their hand blind after the flop. normally I'm all in favor of anything that gives an edge, but true be told I'm playing on a short bankroll so I am looking for the least amount of variance right now. Hey, at least I recognize my deficiencies and I have something to work towards.

the figures for yesterday:

Hours Played this session: 3.5
Gave: $88
$ Per Hour: -$25.14

Earn:
Month to Date: $3
Year to Date: $3

Hourly Rate Year to Date: $0.07
Total Bankroll: $620

A Word On My Number Of Hours - Days 10 & 11

2008-05-24T11:39:00.001-07:00

It's common knowledge to anyone in the know that playing poker for a living is much like any other job in that you get out of it what you put into it. And right now as you can see I am not putting in all that much in terms of playing time. It's not for lack of wanting though. Currently, with my home life schedule I am obligated to take Rebecca to work and pick her up when she is done. That accounts for approximately 2 hours on the road each day. I would be game for going directly to GVR and sitting in a game for the next 6 hours, but unfortunately that is not possible. the $4/$8 game does not get going there until mid morning. Usually when I get home from taking wifey to work in the morning I will do a little bit of housework, though nothing too strenous as I am not yet that domesticated. Add in making some breakfast and next thing you know it's about 11. So I roll on over to GVR and one table is going with a modest list for a second table. Either I will wait about 30 minutes for a seat in the current game or a new one will open. Either way, it's usually almost noon by the time we get going if it's a brand new game (they have to open the table, sell chips, wait for all the players to get settled, then deal high card for button.) That means I am left with about 3 hours for playing since I will get something to eat before having to pick up Rebecca between 4 and 4:30. Nights, at this point, are reserved for home time so that is my long drawn out excuse for not logging enough hours and why I am posting wins of $20 and $40 a day.

With all that said, I am getting really excited about how much my game is improving. I am making timely bluffs and rarely getting picked off (which means I should probably be bluffing more) and I am playing my marginal hands correctly in regards to position (many times checking in first position when I know I am going to call anyway and sometimes either winning a battle of mediocrity or picking off a bluff and with position value betting my upper level marginal hands when I sense weakness.) The cards are starting to come off the deck more proportionally and I am picking up my fair share of playable hands. Last week I would go days on end without picking anything up. And I continue to improve on the use of my tight table image. Observant players don't expect me to fire two and three barrels at pots. They feel like if I am that committed to a pot I must have the goods. I can't wait to get picked off and then be able to work on a table image that shows I am willing to bluff at times. That should to my overall bottom line as the gamblers at the table will be more likely to call me down. I look forward to changing gears depending on who is in the pot with me. I know that even in limit play, you can still play the players just as much as the cards dealt.

Good talking to you, here's the numbers for the past two days. Rebecca is off today and so am I. too bad the nice weather also took off today.

(5/22)
Hours Played this session: 2.25
Take: $10
$ Per Hour: $4.44

Earn:
Month to Date: $51
Year to Date: $51
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $1.42
Total Bankroll: $668

(5/23)
Hours Played this session: 2
Take: $40
$ Per Hour: $20.00

Earn:
Month to Date: $91
Year to Date: $91
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $2.40
Total Bankroll: $708

Getting Back on Track - Day 9

2008-05-22T01:29:00.001-07:00

Instead of playing during the day, I decided to relax and have a few cocktails while I watched the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea. It was a great match under tough wet conditions. I should have went to Quinn's since I was in GVR already, but decided to stay at the sports bar next to the sports book. I checked out the poker room after the match was over and there were two games of $4/$8 going which made me happy. looks like GVR is going to be my new stomping grounds. I didn't have enough time to sit and play since the match ended at 2:30 so I decided to go home and take a 50 minute nap before leaving to pick up wifey.

Feeling the itch to get some action in, I kissed Rebecca good night around 10 pm and headed off to GVR to get my fix. I was a bit tired since I am getting up at 6:30 each morning to take Rebecca to work so I didn't plan on playing long. one hour into the session I was stuck a benji and figured my plan went out the window. I go about things all wrong when it comes to playing poker. I play my longest sessions when stuck and my shortest sessions when I'm killing it. I plan on changing that but there is a part of me that hates losing so much that I'll sit there in a bad mood and curse my luck each time I get drawn out on or make a mistake. Fortunately this time after buying another 40 white I started to make some hands and my raises were starting to control the table the way I wanted them to. the calling stations called and the semi-loose/passive players got out of my way leaving me free to pick on certain players at the table. my target for the night was a loose/aggressive player who went on a tear just before I sat down. he got colored up after about an hour of me sitting down so he had three $100 stacks of red to go with about 100 in white. I was able to get my fair share of his stack before I left, at which point he was down to about $125. in the beginning, I let him run me over in some small pots. I had position on him (I was seated two to his left) so after he got comfortable pushing me out of pots I started playing back at him when the pots got big. he liked to bluff a lot as well, so on my medium strength hands I would check and call the river. One time he straight mucked and I didn't even need to show my hand which I loved because now all the other players at the table have no clue what I had (in this case AQ0 with a Q high flop and a K on the turn. the villain would play any two and he played back at me on the turn, so I checked the river to him and called him down figuring I had a great shot at being best, plus the pot was big and offering me more than enough to call him with second pair, top kicker.) wish I wasn't so tired, I would have stayed and played longer. my confidence is back and it doesn't matter if I get stuck early or get up early, I am getting used to the swings and they don't really affect my play as much. I need to get to the point where they don't affect me at all. I am hoping that the increased confidence and experience that will come with building a bankroll will ease the stress of the roller coaster rides involved with playing for a living. I am severely undercapitalized right now so that's why I am so cautious right now with how I am playing. I am not optimizing my profit potential but that also means less volatility in my bankroll. I am grinding it out playing conservatively, but once I get the knot up to $1,000 I will start to open up my play a bit more and experiment to see what I can improve upon in my game. My style right now is to play tight/aggressive when I can, but to play in limped pots from the back with suited connectors and big suited hands like Axs and Kxs. I am working on my observation skills so that I can use position much better down the road. I would like to start raising with almost any two cards on the button when it is folded around to me and practice outplaying the blinds should the call. my hand reading skills and bluff catching are getting better, but I have a long way to go before I can even be considered as a skilled player in these aspects of the game. To sum it up, the table tonight was very loose/passive for the most part. the game was much tigheter at Red Rock and GVR the first time. Goes to show how much time of day affects the game. these were players that to me were looking to blow off some steam and get some action in. I think I am going to stick to the day time crowd for now until I get a bit of cushion in my 'roll and then transition into playing nights where the variance will be higher but overall the profit potential will be much more. My buddy Chuck thinks I should grind my knot up to a G and then start to take on the no limit games. I agree with him that there is more money to be made there but I still need to sharpen my no limit skills. I may try to play on the strip at Hooters or Excalibur where the buy ins are minimal and the chance of running into truly skilled players is nearly non-existant. I know, I know those casinos aren't necessarily the hotbed of poker action. Never-the-less, money in your bankroll doesn't care where it came from since it all spends the same. I'll might have to suck it up for a while until my game is sharp at no limit before I can even attempt to tackle an ordinary $300 max buy in game. I feel like a pansy saying that, but I need to make sure I'm showing a profit and taking care of my bankroll so that I have some positive figures to show to the boss. after that, then I can start to venture out into the bold new world of las vegas poker.

Till tomorrow (when I should be playing at GVR around mid morning) here are tonight's figures:
Hours Played this session: 2.67
Take: $58
$ Per Hour: $21.72

Earn:
Month to Date: $41
Year to Date: $41
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $1.22
Total Bankroll: $658

I Hate the Sunset Station Game - Moving Onto Bigger and Better Things - Days 7 & 8

2008-05-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

I think the title says it all, but let me rehash just in case you forget the different structure at Sunset compared to the traditional structures at Green Valley Ranch as well as Red Rock (all Station Casino properties mind you.) Sunset's game is a $4/$8 limit hold'em game with a 1/2 kill for a winner of two pots in a row. OK, so far so good. However, their opening blind structure is $1 for the small blind and $2 for the big blind. In essence, it turns the game into a $2/$4 for the preflop betting round. plus, the 1/2 kill blind posted is only $3 instead of $6. This structure makes for tough time preflop isolating players, since pretty much every player at Sunset is a calling station. However, I have had much greater success playing at GVR (my first session out here) and at Red Rock (where I played today which I will get to shortly.) to sum up the type of player that frequent's Sunset, I got into a an argument with a lady who was on the button and complained the the UTG player was raising too much. she mucked her hand as did I and then she states to no one in particular that "I had suited connectors. how are we supposed to win the bad beat jackpot if we can't see flops?" a little background info is required here. Station Casino properties have a property wide bad beat jackpot which as of today is over $233,000. the qualifying hands at the time of this lady's rant were quad 6's or better beaten. I guess she was expecting to flop a straight flush and have someone either make a higher one or have someone go runner, runner to quads with a pocket pair. in any event, since she made the comment to the table and I was sitting at the table, I piped up and told her that the raiser can do whatever he likes with his hand. he earned his money and he is allowed to play his cards however he sees fit. In defense of the raiser (also a calling station when he wasn't getting beaten silly by the deck,) he had picked up pocket AA for the third time in the one hour he had been at the table. I turned to the lady who was pissing and moaning and went on to tell her that she is free to ask the floor for a table change since no one was requiring her to play in this game and furthermore that if she wanted to hit a jackpot she should go play a slot machine. That damn bad beat jackpot rake costs me a dollar per pot. if I win 60 raked pots a week, that is $60 in profit being taken away from my bottom line or about a tank and a third of gas. It pisses me off even more to know that donkeys like that have been sitting at my tables all week at Sunset and I still couldn't get back in the black and start building my bankroll. What a week. Anyway, I got stuck really early in this session and it looked like I was going to piss away another rack like the day before, but I managed to flop an open ended straight with 24o and a flop of 3-5-j with two clubs and a family pot. of course i'm up front so I check it and luckily for me the guy to my left bets it and the table calls around to me just like well trained calling stations do. I know I'm up against a club draw somewhere but with 6 outs to the second nut I close the betting getting about a million to one on my call. the turn brings my gin card, the 6 diamonds which makes a rainbow so luckily no backdoor flush draws to contend with but still the clubs. so I bet out because if I don't with my luck it will get checked around and I will have given a free card to beat me. I get called in a million spots like normal (luckily this portion of the game play's like a traditional $4/$8 so the donkeys are now paying me off at an acceptable rate.) the river brought a non club J and I was in the money. again I bet and got called by most the players and won a handsome pot. when I left to pick up wifey I was only in the red $22. It felt like a win and I commented to wifey later that night that I think I've turned the corner or bounced off the bottom so to speak and was psyched to get back in the action tomorrow.

Today is tomorrow so we pick up the story with me driving my car in the direction of Sunset. But I get to thinking about how much I despise the structure of the game and decide I want to play at Red Rock. Being a Station property my time there will be added to the hours I've already accumulated at Sunset and GVR so I pull over, go to my favorites on my Garmin GPS and find Red Rock. 15 seconds later my directions are mapped out and I'm on my way. the trip took about 25 minutes which is not bad at all since I am used to the hour commute from my home town in Jersey to A.C. It actually reminded me a lot of the rides I used to make to A.C. in that I had ample time to reiterate to myself what topics I wanted to focus on today. each night before I go to bed I read and study. right now I am rehashing Gary Carson's "The Complete Book of Hold'em Poker" and I am also studying the lectures of Mike Caro found on his website, Mike Caro's University of Poker, Gaming, & Life (www.poker1.com.)
Here are some of the notes I scribbled down and took with me so that I could peek at them periodically while playing to remind myself to stay focused:

1. pay attention to tendencies of players after the flop.
2. keep counting the pot to determine pot odds. compare odds to how opponents are playing, especially when there is a showdown and the cards have been revealed.
3. watch how opponents breath during critical portions of hands.
4. watch hands when someone bets, look for something unnatural or out of the ordinary
5. look for acting jobs.
6. look for opportunities to change seats to get position on certain players or change games if more than one game is going and the other game appears to be more appealing.

OK, so you can start to sense that I am serious about this poker stuff. and it's a good thing because I had a great table today full of different types of players that really tested my abilities for the first time in about a week (the GVR game was about the same as today's.) I started off by folding all of my hands for the first orbit. It's amazing how much one orbit can tell you about the players. so on the second orbit I pick up QQ in middle position and a kid in the 2 hole raised. he had raised a couple pots in the first orbit and I got the sense he didn't fully understand hand values. I reraised to isolate but the calling station in the big blind decided her hand was worth two more bets. World Poker Tour kid smoothe called me and we had three to the flop where I spiked top set (nice!!) the kid checked to me and I bet out, asian calling station lady calls me, and WPT kid comes along as well. a K comes on the turn and again it is checked to me. I bet out and the calling station calls, and surpising the kid folds (must have been JJ or or something to that effect that he was holding.) a blank comes on the river and I fire one last time and, you guessed it, the calling station called. she proudly turns over her pair of kings with a 7 kicker with no match of suits and I shrug and show her my three prom dates and she looked surprised. I guess she is used to drawing out on players that 3 bet her preflop??? so, the rest of the time she was there I would look to isolate her in middle position after she had limped in and it was folded around to me. If I had a medium strength hand I would raise. I had a very tight/aggressive style that was getting too much respect at the table so I figured I would take advantage of it. I raised preflop sometime before this hand and got no callers so I decided to show my two Kings. I figured I would exploit the ultra solid image that the cards were giving me so that I could steal later which I did on a couple occasions where I would raise from middle position, miss the flop, and paint would come on the turn and I would fire again and take it down. I'm a much better player with this image than when I pick up a lot of playable hands early, lose with them, and look like a loose/aggressive player. I have not managed to make that table image work for me yet. Going into the second hour I was up about $60 and got two of the more aggressive players at the table to give me $40 each from their stacks. On one hand, I had AJs and the flop came down A-A-6. I played it fast hoping that my opponent who had been raising every flop bet would go ahead and play back at me. he did and I reraised hoping he had a weak A. he called and I bet the turn when I Q fell and again he called. a blank fell on the river and I checked it to him because he looked like he was itching to bet and I started to get the sinking feeling he might have a bigger A (after all he was aware of my tight/aggressive table image.) I also thought he was capable of bluffing when I showed weakness. He fired, I called, and he said "you got me." that I did, and a nice pot as well. the last significant hand came when a young gun who had been raising his button about 50% of the time when it was limped around to him raised in just such a spot. Only I was one of the limpers with KQo. there were two callers in front of me and I had been raising quite a few pots so I decided to change gears and just call to see what developed. everyone called the raise and we went 4 to the flop which came King high. it was checked around to me and I rapped the table as well knowing full well the young gun would fire (probably with nothing but position) and I would check raise him and whoever else decided to call his bet. only one player called and then I raised. to my surprise he re-raised and the guy between us dumped his hand. I thought about it for a moment and then decided to smoothe call. now I wasn't sure if I was best. Maybe he had raised for value with a small pair and hit a set. An Ace fell on the turn which I didn't like too much and the young gun surprised me again by taking a free card. the river was harmless and I checked again. I figured either the A beat me, he outflopped me, or I was ahead and I was going to induce a bluff out of him. He was a pretty smart player though and knew that my check raise on the flop was not just air. He checked behind me and said I missed. I showed him the KQ and took down a healthy pot. Evidently he had picked up a flush draw on the flop and had raised with suited connectors. I gotta say, I liked his style. he was unpredictable and aggressive. I would have never three bet with a flush draw on the flop though I might have raised with suited connectors now and then on the button. He disguised his draw so well that I would not have been able to put him on it should it have hit. The free card he took on the turn in retrospect was the key peice of info I misinterpretted. Here's to you young gun, you taught me something knew today and I am greatly appreciative.

Here are the figures for the past two days. Let's hope things are on the up and up:

(5/19 - Sunset Station)
Hours Played this session: 3.75
Gave: $22
$ Per Hour: -$5.87

Earn:
Month to Date: -$138
Year to Date: -$138
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$4.76
Total Bankroll: $479

(5/20 - Red Rock)
Hours Played This Session: 2
Take: $121
$ Per Hour: $60.50

Earn:
Month to Date: -$17
Year to Date: -$17
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$0.55
Total Bankroll: $600

I'm Playing Like Ryan Howard - Days 4, 5, & 6

2008-05-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

Over the last 3 sessions things just haven't been going right for me. I'll put together a short run and build my stack, only to get cold decked, out-drawn, and counterfeited. I feel like I'm sure Ryan Howard is feeling this season. He is sure of himself but the results just aren't there to back it up. However, I'm not going to bore you with bad beat stories and the other donkified plays my opponents have been throwing at me lately. Instead, I'm going to keep this positive as I always will whether I play myself down to the felt or I run up my bankroll and move up in stakes. Negativity has no place in one's mind who has a burning desire to be successful. The way I see, I can go on believing that I am a good player and continue to attempt to implement the plays I've learned through experience and studying the major poker authors' works and if I do turn things around and build my bankroll up we can look back in retrospect and say that it was my determination and fortitude that got me there. If I go broke, well we can say that it was a pipe dream and that I should have known better. Either way, having a positive outlook will only help to increase my chances at success. I read an author once wrote that everything we tell ourselves about the future is a lie. It's a lie because the future has not happened yet and therefore we have no factual basis for the things we tell ourselves about it. With that said, he went on to write, why not tell ourselves positive lies about the future? This way, we start to create self fulfilling prophecies about it and a pattern of success. I think that type of thinking carries a lot of weight and I subscribe to it. just remind me at the table when I am getting my top pair top kicker slaughtered by the guy who decided to call two or three bets cold preflop with his baby pair and hit his 8-1 set on the flop to beat me. Or the other guy who flopped two pair with his Axo while again I am holding the dominant preflop hand. Variance will work itself out, but the short term can really suck sometimes. With all that said and as bad as I felt when I left the game stuck $140 to a bunch of donkeys, I am only down $116 since moving out here. All in all, not a really deep hole to dig myself out of. It's just tough explaining to the missus who I feel like I am playing pretty well for the most part yet I don't have any benjis to show her to prove it.

Ok, here are the figures for the past 3 sessions. Read them and weep with me:

(5/15)
Hours Played This Session: 5
Gave: $8
per hour: -$25.26

Earn
Month to Date: -$31
Year to Date: -$31
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$1.91
Total Bankroll: $586

(5/17)
Hours Played This Session: 5
Take: $55
$ Per Hour: $11.00

Earn
Month to Date: $24
Year to Date: $24
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $1.13
Total Bankroll: $641

(5/18)
Hours Played this session: 4
Gave: $140
$ Per Hour: -$35

Earn:
Month to Date: -$116
Year to Date: -$116
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$4.59
Total Bankroll: $501

..And She Was Right - Day 3

2008-05-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Today's session did not go as planned. I arrived at Sunset Station around 11 and was looking forward to playing a nice 5 hour session before picking up wifey. And it started off the way a session against a fish tank should start. after the second hand I was up $20 after raising with top pair after the flop (ATs) with the first player betting out. I got called by the player behind me and the original bettor folded. I then bet the turn and got called. seemed fishy so I checked the river and after showing my top pair he flipped over his flush draw. I was a pig in shit. I was playing with guys that did not know how to throw away hands when facing two bets with draws that were not to the nuts. I thought to myself, now this is how it's supposed to be. average one decent pot or so an hour, protect my chips the rest of the time, and average a cool $20 per hour and make all my friends at home jealous. well, the poker gods know how to read minds and they also know how to tell jokes. evidently the joke was on me for the rest of the session as I did not pick up a single premium hand. the table was very passive but every time I picked up suited connectors in position, of course it was raised and I had to throw it away. I picked up suited aces in position and of course the flop would come all of one suit which was not mine. hell, I even limped with dueces, saw a flop that was checked around, hit my duece on the turn which made a three flush. I took down the pot but it was one of those sessions where nothing comes easy. I felt like Daniel Negraneu on high stakes poker season two where he would flop a hand (most times the nuts) and get drawn out on by the river. It reminded me of a session I played at Borgata where I was sitting 3/6 with a bunch of donkeys and still managed to lose $248 that day. having gone through that and bouncing back to still show good profits has given me the experience and where-with-all to see this as a day of variance and just running bad. I didn't think I played poorly, but in limit hold'em with 4 - 6 to the flop you have to have a hand or a profitable draw to proceed. didn't get any of those today. Just to keep things in perspective, if I go on a tear one day and break everyone at the table, I will have to keep in mind that I am not that good either and variance was in my favor on that particular occassion. hopefully that day will come and I can reference this post at that time. In the mean time, I am looking forward to playing again tomorrow and realing in the fish as opposed to getting fried by them.

Even as I watched my stack get scorched over the roughly five hours I played, I couldn't help but think how much I love playing. two of the biggest fish at my table raked in over $125 each during my session. One of them was our champ from yesterday that gave away a couple racks and from what I was told gave away about five racks the day before. Turns out he is local. And that's what keeps 'em coming back and that's what keeps me playing against them. they will think back to days like this, tell themselves they are good players who are just unlucky at times while I'll be stacking their chips more than they will be stacking mine. God I love poker! till next time, here are my abissmal figures for today:

Hours Played This Session: 4.75
Gave: $120
$ per hour: -$25.26

Earn
Month to Date: -$23
Year to Date: -$23
Hourly Rate Year to Date: -$2.04
Total Bankroll: $594

Mama Said There'd Be Days... - Day 2

2008-05-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Green Valley Ranch is one of the two flagship properties of Station Casinos. It was their best property up until Red Rock opened about 2 years ago out in the Western Vegas suburb of Summerlin. Station owns a bunch of locals casinos that are dispersed throughout the valley. Sunset Station is about 4 miles away from my apartment in the opposite direction of GVR. Last time wifey and I were there I saw 4/8 limit games going at very early hours. This is a good thing for me since I have the middle of my day wide open while my better half is actually holding down a real job. So I ran on down to Sunset to check out the action there. Sunset is not a high end property like GVR so I figured the crowd would be a bit different and that assumption was correct. What I did not account for was the that the structure of the 4/8 with 1/2 kill game would be different. I assumed there was only one way to structure a limit game (not speaking of spread limit) and furthermore since this property was owned by Station I expected the same game, kinda like getting a Big Mac in Jersey, a Big Mac in Vegas, or a Big Mac in Paris, France - it's about consistency and knowing what to expect. In any event, the structure is very bizarre in that preflop the game plays very much like 2/4 which I despise. The blinds are only half of what they should be, in this case 1/2 and not the 2/4 that I've come to expect. In essence, a bunch of people limp in in hopes of catching a hand. After the flop, the games plays like a traditional 4/8 game with flop bets of $4 and turn and river bets of $8. The only thing I like about the game is that sometimes the pot does not offer plays the correct price to draw since the flop bets are double the amount of money put in preflop (unless there is a raise preflop which would be in $4 increments - hence a raise costs $6 preflop instead of $8.) For example, with 4 limpers the pot contains $8. If the first player to act would bet out, he would be laying a price of 3 - 1 for callers behind him. maybe close enough for a flush draw to the nuts with the implied odds provided there are no raises behind him, but definitely the wrong price for a straight draw (unless of course the straight draw is in last position and all players call the flop bet.)

Ok, enough with the tuturiol. After 30 minutes in the game I could tell I was a big favorite and provided I didn't take too many unfortunate beats I figured I could grind out between $15 - $20 an hour in this game. The locals are the types that like to play any A in any position. You know the type, it's a typical low limit crowd. Everyone limps, they only raise with super premiums, and they are pretty easy to read for the most part. On top of it, there was an out of towner that the regular player Eddie sitting to my left said had blown through $500 in this game yesterday. About 2 hours in to the game, I took note that he had been felted twice donating another $200 of which I was about to get about $50. I was cruising when I picked up QQ in the cut off. A couple limpers in front of me so I raised and got a call from the BB as well as the limpers. all unders on the flop and only slightly coordinated with a rainbow to boot. of course checked around to me so I bet it and the BB calls while the others fold. a T comes off on the turn and the BB checks to me. again I fire and he plays back at me with a check/raise. I thought about 3 betting because this guy was actually against the grain of the rest of the table and would raise a lot preflop with marginal hands. but having position, i opted to flat call and see how he would act on the river. I thought possibly he had a hand like AT and figured I was betting air with something like AK or AQ. of course, the thought of a set flashed in my mind as well since everyone at the table knew at this point that I was the tightest there. in any event, a blank falls on the river and he bets out. I call with my two ladies and he shows me a set of T's. good to know I had him drawing to two outs, though it cost me 3 big bets on the turn and river to find out. in the long run I make a killing in that spot, but today was the short run and we know how that goes. with one orbit to go I was getting ready to leave since I wanted to grab a bite to eat and then had to go play taxi driver for wifey. any time I am ready to leave I should just up and do so. instead, I made some weak calls against players that would not bet into me unless they had a better than marginal hand. I called them down because I did the math and I'm getting laid better than 5-1 and I didn't think I was that much of a dog with the boards that were shown and the way the betting had gone. so I gave back my $30 profit or an hourly rate of $6 but I think I stumbled upon something very valuable. The reason the betting wen the way it did in those hands was because my opponents were nervous about my holding and only committed minimal chips instead of pushing their egdges the way I try to do. So, if that trend continues, I will be losing the least hopefully on my marginal holdings and hopefully getting decent value (though not maximum value due to my tight image) on my better hands. Sounds like a formula for success.

Here's today's numbers for you:

Hours Played This Session: 5
Take: $0
$ per hour: $0.00

Earn
Month to Date: $97
Year to Date: $97
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $14.92
Total Bankroll: $714

Baby Steps - Day 1

2008-05-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

So I'm living the dream, or that's what I've told myself since moving out to Vegas and away from the friends and family I love so much and miss terribly back in Southern New Jersey. It's only been about 4 weeks but since I've been waiting on my funds from the IRS to show up it's been a lot of reading to pass the time. And what better material to read then study guides that will help me with my newly chosen (read: illadvised) career of professional card player. So during the past month or so, I have broken up my time between unpacking and reassembling my belongings shipped from Jersey by reading two books on no limit hold'em (Sklansky/Miller's No Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice and Brunson's No Limit chapter in Super/System 2.) So armed with the knowledge contained in those two publications and my new bankroll courteous of Uncle Sam returning to me what he accidentally overdrafted from my federal income taxes I set off to cut my teeth and prove to the world (ok just my friends who are living vicariously through me) that I am up to the challenge. Going out to brave a scary new world of gambling for a living, I chickened out and reverted directly back to my bread and butter - low limit hold'em.

The nice thing about living in Vegas (actually the Green Valley district of Henderson) is that there are two things required for decent poker games. They are people with time and people with money. Throw in a gaming friendly political environment for the state and you have a card player's paradise (the weather's not so bad either.) So today I worked up the nerve to actually drive my ass over to Green Valley Ranch (http://www.greenvalleyranchresort.com/), my local casino no more than 2 miles from my place, and sit down in a newly opened 4/8 with 1/2 kill limit game. I only had two hours to kill before I had to go pick up my girlfriend from her job so I figured I couldn't get hurt too badly if my game was rusty or the competition was better than I remembered facing in Atlantic City. Fortunately, the games do not appear to be any tougher out here at least judging from this session and the few I've played on past trips to Vegas. I played the tight/aggressive style that I've always employed and was very pleased with the results during this 90 minute feeling out session. I had never played with a kill before so I had to "act like I know" what the hell was going on with the green button that was getting passed around and then flipped to red once a villain won two pots back to back. Gotta admit, I really like the kill style of play. At GVR, the half kill turns the game into 6/12 for one hand which I played a bunch of at Borgata back in AC. You can really make some money during these kill pots since many of the players do not adjust to the higher stakes and continue to play their loose/passive/weak style of play. Another thing that caught me off guard was the fact that dealers and floor personnel (aka the "brush") can sit in on the game when either the room is slow or they are off duty. That would never fly in Jersey. Hell, a dealer or floor person can't even play in their own casino let alone while on the clock. Luckily, casino workers are some of the loosest and most aggressive players you can find. They actually hinder my style a bit, but when I pick up hands I love to play back at them. That's actually how I made the majority of my earn for this session. The girl who seated me, Christina, happened to be on the button in my game and raised 2 limpers. I was in the small blind with AQo and took a flop. The big blind folded and the limpers do what limpers do, they called. The flop was rags and we all checked to the raiser. She bet, I felt I had a bigger hand than she did and decided to take a card off. One limper came along for the ride. An A fell on the turn and I checked it again, this time with the intention of check/raising brush girl when she fired again. The limper checked and right on queue she did not disappoint me. I took it up a unit, the limper got out of my way and I was almost certain she was going to my fold. After some thought she decided to see the river. Another inconsequential card fell and I bet. She made what I can only think was a crying call with something like AJ and I scooped a very nice pot. After that, I just grinded away a bit more using my tight/solid image to pick up some pots and then I had to go pick up wifey since she is the bread winner of the household and I couldn't keep her waiting.

so, the figures for day 1 look like:
(expect to see these at the bottom of each posting - it'll give you the skinny on how I'm doing as a "pro" and the variance involved with playing every day.)

Hours Played This Session: 1.5
Take: $97
$ per hour: $64.67

Earn
Month to date: $97
Year to date: $97
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $64.67
Total bankroll: $714

P.S. ~ the total bankroll is what I was up in live cash game play from games in Jersey prior to moving. All sessions are tracked on StatKing to ensure accuracy in my record keeping and analysis of my results. if you're serious about your game, I highly recommend it.

http://www.conjelcostore.com/conjelco/IP.php?type=Category&ID=12&productID=205