12-31-2001, 03:00 PM
I was in Vegas between the 25th and 30th. Got a chance to shoot the breeze with Mason and Vince and also Roy Cooke. Vince, I am sorry that we were unable to meet on Saturday night for dinner. Next time buddy. Also got a chance to meet “Hosh”. I had played with him on previous trips...he’s a terrific player. My thanks to him for his “Hosh’s tip of the week” posts...keep ‘em coming. Met Abdul briefly but did not get a chance to talk at length...again, hopefully next time.
Poker Results:
10/20 1 hour -250
15/30 14 hours +135
20/40 20 hours +1200
30/60 8 hours -280
Total: 43 hours +805
A very frustrating week of cards (only one AA in 43 hours...man...) which saw me play some of the most boring poker I have ever played. My session results read like results from a 5-10 game. My biggest win was $710 over 8 hours in a 20-40 game and my biggest loss was 665 over 6 hours in a 15-30 game. The 15/30 and 20/40 games were generally very good. On most nights, there were at least one or two players in the games who clearly had no hold ‘em experience at all. There were several multiway pots in these games each night.
I played 30/60 on my last night in Vegas (Saturday). The game had one maniac, a couple of loose players and what seemed like 6 tough pros who were extremely difficult opponents. The level of thinking in this game was definitely a notch or two higher than the 15/30 and 20/40 games that I had been playing earlier in the week.
I will post a few hands from my trip later this week. Here’s one from the 30-60 game:
A tough player raises under the gun. The maniac is in the small blind and one of the two loose players is in the big blind. I have 99 a couple of spots to the left of UTG. I coldcall his raise anticipating that at least the two players in the blinds would call and that there would perhaps also be a call from the loose player to my immediate left which hopefully would attract calls from some of the others as well. No dice. Everyone else folds leaving me heads-up with the toughie.
Flop: J22 with two clubs
He bets and I raise. He 3 bets. I call.
Turn: J
He checks. I bet. He raises. I think for a while and fold. He tables 77 and takes the pot. He obviously read me very well. Not quite sure why he tabled his 77 though. I think he would have benefitted more by just mucking his cards after I folded.
Anyway, this is a play that I don’t normally see in the Vancouver games and did not see in the 15/30 and 20/40 games in Vegas. It would appear that the toughie correctly deduced that my most likely hand was a pocket pair like TT/99/88/77/66 which I would lay down if he checkraised the turn. I assume that he thought it was unlikely that I would be the first coldcaller of his raise with a Jack in my hand (this hand occurred about 4 hours into the session). The second Jack on the turn should make it that much more unlikely that I called his preflop raise with a Jack in my hand. Most 15/30 players would be terrified at the sight of the second Jack on the turn given my flop raise but this guy saw it as his ticket to take down the pot.
Who knows. Maybe he was thinking something completely different but in any event, I thought it was a bold and terrific play by my opponent.
I will post some other hands later on.
Poker Results:
10/20 1 hour -250
15/30 14 hours +135
20/40 20 hours +1200
30/60 8 hours -280
Total: 43 hours +805
A very frustrating week of cards (only one AA in 43 hours...man...) which saw me play some of the most boring poker I have ever played. My session results read like results from a 5-10 game. My biggest win was $710 over 8 hours in a 20-40 game and my biggest loss was 665 over 6 hours in a 15-30 game. The 15/30 and 20/40 games were generally very good. On most nights, there were at least one or two players in the games who clearly had no hold ‘em experience at all. There were several multiway pots in these games each night.
I played 30/60 on my last night in Vegas (Saturday). The game had one maniac, a couple of loose players and what seemed like 6 tough pros who were extremely difficult opponents. The level of thinking in this game was definitely a notch or two higher than the 15/30 and 20/40 games that I had been playing earlier in the week.
I will post a few hands from my trip later this week. Here’s one from the 30-60 game:
A tough player raises under the gun. The maniac is in the small blind and one of the two loose players is in the big blind. I have 99 a couple of spots to the left of UTG. I coldcall his raise anticipating that at least the two players in the blinds would call and that there would perhaps also be a call from the loose player to my immediate left which hopefully would attract calls from some of the others as well. No dice. Everyone else folds leaving me heads-up with the toughie.
Flop: J22 with two clubs
He bets and I raise. He 3 bets. I call.
Turn: J
He checks. I bet. He raises. I think for a while and fold. He tables 77 and takes the pot. He obviously read me very well. Not quite sure why he tabled his 77 though. I think he would have benefitted more by just mucking his cards after I folded.
Anyway, this is a play that I don’t normally see in the Vancouver games and did not see in the 15/30 and 20/40 games in Vegas. It would appear that the toughie correctly deduced that my most likely hand was a pocket pair like TT/99/88/77/66 which I would lay down if he checkraised the turn. I assume that he thought it was unlikely that I would be the first coldcaller of his raise with a Jack in my hand (this hand occurred about 4 hours into the session). The second Jack on the turn should make it that much more unlikely that I called his preflop raise with a Jack in my hand. Most 15/30 players would be terrified at the sight of the second Jack on the turn given my flop raise but this guy saw it as his ticket to take down the pot.
Who knows. Maybe he was thinking something completely different but in any event, I thought it was a bold and terrific play by my opponent.
I will post some other hands later on.