Tricky play – Last resort.

So I’m at $1/$2 NL again and I’ve been at this table for half an hour with no god damn cards, and I finally look down at AK offsuit in middle position… not a great hand, but it’ll do.. I raise it to $17… and everyone folds…

Great.. I won a $7 pot…

Enough was enough… I waited till I was on the button and got Q 4 offsuit, about 5 people limped in, and I raised it to $23… everyone folds, hehe one guy tells me that he’s “close to calling me if his kicker was high enough..” *okay buddy*.. and I flip over my cards to earn a little disrespect…

Another round goes by and I’ve not picked up a decent hand, I’m in the small blind and I pick up 7 5 suited, and the pot was raised to $8 by UTG, and there were about 4 callers… I raise it $40 more, and everyone folds… I flip over my hand again and hopefully earned a great deal of disrespect on that hand. One guy tells me “nice one… don’t worry, the next time you raise, I’ll fold…”.. *punk*…. Anyhow I’m about 100 up from a few hands here and there and a couple blinds steal here and there… When I look down at A 4 offsuit one off the button… I normally don’t get involved with these types of hands for fear of being out kicked… But I was bored so I saw the flop with three others…

flop is A A K…

Early position bets $20 (indicating a K)… one guy calls him, and now I’ve got that sick feeling of being out kicked again… I wasn’t worried about the guy that bets $20 into a pot that had about $8 in it… but why did this other guy flat call him?.. I had to find out so I raised it to $60…

Original raiser calls, and this other guy calls ( but only has $40 left )… I’m now not sure what to think… turn card is a J… and early position guy checks.. the other guy goes all in.. and I go all in to boot Mr. King out… and he folds.. and the other guy had J 10… My hand held up and I leave $260 ahead… not bad for a night with crap cards. I am starting to really like the squeeze play, it seems to be a low risk play since it works most of the time…

Total Zen experience.

Wow, back at $1/$2 since it’s a few more days before vacation is over and I’ve gotta get back to my boring job as a software engineer. Played really tight, learning from my experience on the 24^th… and I pick up KK just one off the button. The action is checked all the way around to me, and I raise it to $17, and I get one caller (this big tattooed guy that I’d never want to run into outside of the poker room). My initial guess was he was on A J, KQ, QJ, J 10…

The flop comes 9 6 6 paint.

He is first to act and bets $25 into me, and now I’m putting him on an over pair, 10’s or jacks, or maybe pocket 8’s… I raise it to $50, and he flat calls. Turn card is a 7, completing a straight if someone had 10 8 (*yeah right*), and he bets $50 into me…

Now I go into my think tank and really try to figure out what he has… He called my re-raise on the flop, and then bets $50 into me?... I was now putting him on JJ or TT and was thinking that he prolly put me on AK and was just hoping to see a small card on the turn… But now I have a dilemma, if I raise him here, he might just fold (he had another $80 or so left) thinking that I have a higher over pair… But if I call, he’s prolly not going to bet any more because only a dumb ass would be chasing AK there… So I’m staring at the board a while making it seem as though I’m afraid that he might have 10 8 and I’m worried about the straight so that on the river he may just try and bluff me out of the pot even if he puts me on an over pair. So I make a really disgusted call… River is a 6!!! Which means if he had pkt 8’s, he’s now got a straight (pretty unlikely, but I’ve seen stranger things)… He goes all in, I call instantly, and he shows 10’s, and I pick up a nice pot.

A lot of hands go by, with me constantly folding, when one hand I pick up QJ suited on the big blind… An overly aggressive player raises to $15 in middle position and everyone folds around to me, and I think about it, and call… This was a borderline call since I was out of position too…

The flop comes 9 Q 5, and I check, and he bets $15…

I was now having that sickly feeling again cursing myself for seeing the flop and knowing I have to lose some money here to a possible A Q… so I call and wait to see what he does on the turn if he does in fact have AQ… Turn is a beautiful jack… Now I am wondering how to extract the most amount… From previous hands that I’ve played with this guy he’s played relatively tight, but overly aggressive when he senses weakness… So I check… and he goes all in for $165… I call him instantly and he says “wow…”… river card is a K, and I ask him if he has a Q… and he just says “you got me”.. and I show over Q J and take down another sweet pot. All in all a nice night, up $447, and my 4^th winning session in a row.

Wow I am addicted…

You know you’re addicted to poker when you’re at the casino playing poker on Christmas. So here I’m at the $1/$2 table again and on the button I pick up 9 8 suited… I go ahead and raise it up to $12 (nice pot builder raise into an un-raised pot) and I get two callers.

Flop is 9 J 5...

and both check to me, and I lead out and bet $30, only one person calls me. Turn card is a 7, and he checks and I check. River card is an 8, and he bets $50, I think about it for a while and *just* call him. He right away says “you got me… “… so I showed my hand, and he says “Oh my god!, nice river buddy.. look at this guy!.. I had Ace Jack! This is SAD”.. So I ask him to show it since I called him, and he throws his hand into the muck refusing to show… He may have in fact had A J, but he played his hand like he was on a draw… quite passively played in my opinion.

A bunch of hands go by and I pick up pocket 8’s on the button and make a small raise of $12… One guy calls me...

the flop is 6 5 2 …

he checks, and I bet $25… he calls me instantly… The turn card is a J, but he’s already got his chips in the hand and fires $25… Now this looks incredibly suspicious to me of two pair ( 6 5 ), and I call hoping to hit an 8 or counterfeit the board. River card is a 9, and he already had his money lined up and pushes in $50… I now know for sure he has two pair, his half sized pot bet, plus the fact that people love to play suited connecters like 6 5 even if someone has raised. So I tell him “6’s and 5’s are good…) and I fold… and he shows over 6 5 suited… Even though I lost money on that hand, I am glad I didn’t play an over pair too aggressively on the flop and wind up losing a hell of a lot more. 2 hours later I leave… up $200, and my 3^rd winning session in a row.

A Rude awakening.

So I’m back at the $1/$2 NL tables and playing reasonably conservative… when I get dealt 8 6 suited in the big blind. A tight player in late position raised it to $7, and since I was getting a relatively cheap price, I called it, and so did another player.

The flop comes A 8 8…

And I check, so does middle position guy, and the guy who originally raised bets $20, I go ahead and raise it to $40, and middle position calls!... and so does Mr. Late position… Turn card is a 7, and I’ve got this sick feeling that middle position has an 8 as well, and if he does, I’m in a shit load of trouble. So I throw in $40, and just wait to see what he does, he raises it to $80, and late position calls… and now I know the bad news, but I can’t fold it and just hope that the river brings a high card or pairs the board so that we may split the pot. The river is a 7 (thank god!), and I check, middle position goes all in, late position calls, and I’m all in as well… And mid pos flips up J 8, late guy flips A K… and I get off with a very cheap lesson. I had then realized why it is truly bad to see the flop just because you’re getting a cheap price… and I played incredibly tight after that point and came out ahead $243… not bad for 3 hours work.

Back into poker with a fresh start...

After taking a break from poker for a while due to losing my bank roll, I decide to get back into the grind.

Yesterday, I enter the Boulevard casino (coquitlam, BC) and head over to the $1/$2 NL tables. I begin the night playing tight as I usually do, get a feel for the table, getting nothing but garbage dealt to me. Finally after much waiting I get AK suited dealt to me on the button. The pot had already been raised by UTG for $12, so I prop it up to $40. UTG calls me and the flop comes A 7 6… He bets out $30, I raise it to $60, and he calls. Turn is a J, he checks, I go all in, and he calls… he flips over A 2, and it is looking really good for me, until the river card which was a 2. That’s poker I guess... all you can do at that point is get on with the next hand, or leave if you’ve had enough… So I reloaded another $200.

After about 3 hours of playing tight and getting paid on some monsters, I’m sitting at around $500 in chips. I get dealt K Q offsuit in middle position… and UTG has raised it to $15, so I call and we’re heads up. This girl next to me motions to see my cards… So being the nice guy I showed it to her. Flop comes KQ 7… UTG checks, I bet out $25, UTG calls… turn card is a Q, UTG checks, and I bet out $20, and UTG folds… I didn’t think any of it at the time but later on I found out that the girl next to me was best friends with UTG. The pieces hadn’t fit then, another hand comes by where I have a junk hand on the button into a raised pot of $8 times 5 players… So I employ the squeeze play and bump it to $40… I get one caller (the ex UTG girl)… Flop is A 9 2, and she checks…The girl next to me motions to see my cards again and since I hadn’t looked at it yet, I flipped it up high enough so both of us could see it.. it was Q 3 offsuit. There was a flush draw on the board so I thought it was odd that she checked. So I bet out $45… She calls me.. Turn card is a blank, and I bet out $100, I get another call.. river card is an Ace, and I bet out $75 ( a small enticing bet to pretend like I had the ace )… She calls and shows over Q 9… Every single person at the table is now looking at her, and she voluntarily says “I had a feeling he was bluffing”. Let this be a lesson, DON’T SHOW YOUR CARDS TO ANYONE. I got my revenge later on though; I got dealt AK spades in the big blind, there was a raise in middle position for $8, and 3 more callers, so I raise it to $23… this girl and another person call me. Three way action and the flop is Qs 10d 2s, so I’ve got a nice looking draw. I bet out $15, they both call me since I’ve got a very aggressive image at the table. Turn card is a 4s giving me the nut flush, and I check, and right on cue the girl next to me motions to see my cards… So I showed her *just* the Ace of spades. And this guy bets $15, the girl calls, and I go ahead and raise it another $30 making it $45 total… only the girl calls me and it is heads up. Now river card is blank… and I think about this for a while, and bet out $200… The girl instantly calls me… I just look over at her relishing this moment (I’m immature I know..) and she thinking that I was bluffing shows over K 10 for just a pair of 10’s… I show over the nut hand and take down a sweet pot… I made some more donkey plays towards the 8 AM mark since I had been playing for about 12 hours now and decided to just leave with about $700 in front of me… so about $300 profit for the night.