Yesterday tournament was a bit boring. There was no one to talk to (I had seat 1 and the guy next to me did not speak english.. or so he claimed
) A female dealer came to the table and she started to toss cards all over the place with a rather hostile energy. A lady at the table looked at her and said: “Are you in a bad mood today?”. Well! That question was not welcome. The dealer got furious telling the lady of that she “recented such personal questions”… I tend to agree! It was obvious the dealing lady was not in a the best of moods I would not have dared to even miss posting an ante!
I learnet a new rule… that when you call someone it’s obvious that you have the right to see their cards – but that if the one you called muck their cards floor has to be called as the cards will be back into play again if you demand to see them.
I played all decent hand I got but hit absolutely nothing. I guess we all have been there! When you have diamonds flop goes black if you have low cards flop comes high and so on…. As the structure is slow there is plenty of time to wait but after a few hours I was down to 4000 with 400 in blind level.
I was in mid position and looked down at 10 J of hearts. I had already tried a number of steals with 3 or 4 times BB raises (that was what brought me down to 4 times BB in the first place…) so I decided to just call. I hoped that the other players would see a call from a small stack indicating a strong hand – that I would get maximum numbers of callers and then (almost) whatever came on the flop I would just go all in.
I was happy to see 5 callers building to “my pot”. Flop came 8, 9 and 4 with two hearts. Perfect! I could not have asked for a better flop! I went all in.
Button called and all other folded. Button showed 10-10. Not too bad? As I had a 10 he could hardly improve and now I had also any J as an out…. but none of my outs appeared and that was it
Playing my tournaments at Aria Harrahs is not the right palace to stay! It’s crowded in town and quit hot outside. I still walk but they should really consider making a walk line for fast walkers? The people here is not the thinnest and the pavement is frequently just blocked!
In the evening I returned to Harrahs for a bit of cash game and a beer. My “old” friends from the night before was not there instead the crowd was more the MGM kind of players. Young guys playing quit agressive. I sat next to a russian guy that was serious about his plays. He had built quit a large stack and I noted he was possibly the best player at the table. A few hours later he told me that a guy with a hat on was the tightest player at the table
That made me smile – I think for the first time in history someone is considered tighter than me!
A raise was most of the time 12 dollars. (2 dollar BB). I stuck to my raises of 6 to 8 dollars on all “decent hands”. I did not get any reraises but a lot of callers. And is that not the thing? When I have suited connectors or a pocket I want a big pot. Winning the blinds seem just silly? When I was 50 dollars down I looked at 10 10 in small blind. A guy raised to 12 dollars, only me and BB left. Well? Reraise or call? I settled with a call. BB also called. Flop came with a 10. I checked. BB bet 10, the original bettor called and I decided to raise. Slowplay get’s punished so many times… I put in 30 dollars and BB (russian) folded. The original bettor called and turn put a small pair on the table. So now I had a nice full house. I checked it hoping that it would show a bit of weakness. Original bettor checked as well. On the river I had to bet. I placed 65 dollars in the pot. Figuring an all in would look a bit scary
The guy did not think long before he called. Not sure what he had but a pity he was not strong enough to reraise me all in!
Later on I made a call that made the full table say “good call”. A man overbet the river with 65 dollars. I had two pair and had just flat called it all the way. The thing is that the man had previously traded one of his five dollar chips for one of the russians five dollar chips. Same value but this chip had a long legged woman on the flip side. A few hands before the man had tossed that chip in the pot with his bet… and then he showed the nut hand. But this time the man removed the “special” chip before making his bet. To me the call was not to hard. A top pair I would have folded but not a two pair as the guy did not want to risk his special chip!
I left at 1 AM with 200 dollars more in my pocket. Then the table had transformed to the tightest table in the universe. Mostly asian guys everybody limping into every pot… very strange game. As soon as there was an A on the flop I bet and all folded. Apparently they figured I only play aces (and I seem to get them a lot!)
Ar McDonalds there was a huge line.. but a burger right before bed time is worth the wait! (From a fast food access standpoint Harrahs is greatly placed. Panda (where I so don’t eat anymore), McDonalds, Chipotle, Subway, Pizza slices – it is all dangerously close!