CCass
05-19-2004, 12:53 AM
Following is the poker related account of my recent business trip to New Orleans. Harrah's in downtown New Orleans has a nice poker room with about 20-25 tables. The HE they spread is 3/6 and 6/12 all the time, 10/20 or 15/30 as needed, and 1 or 2 tables of NL with two $5 blinds and a minimum $200 buy-in. They also spread 15/30 Omaha Hi as needed, 1-5 Stud, and 1-4-8-8 half and half. Unless otherwise stated, all games I played in were very loose and pretty passive. All wins/losses reported include rake, tokes, cab fare, etc...
Thursday night - I arrive at the hotel, and by the time I get my wireless connection issues resolved and logged into Stars, I am already down to T1,410 in KOTZ. I play horribly and exit KOTZ early. I decide to go to the casino and check out the poker room. I am quickly seated in a 3/6 game, play about 2.5 hours and win $70. I had AA twice and KK once, and all 3 hands held up (more on big pocket pairs later).
Friday - I decide to try 6/12, as it looks pretty loose/passive, and proceed to go card dead and horribly play the few decent hands I get. Loose $400 in 3 hours. I decide to go back to 3/6, the cards are no better (nor is my play) and loose another $86 in 3 hours.
Saturday - 8.5 hours of 3/6 won $63, had AA cracked 3 times.
Sunday afternoon - I had a couple of hours before taking a tour of the Garden district and sat back down at 6/12 (I knew I could beat this game?). Played 2 hours and won $300. Two hands of interest. Hand #1 - I was UTG +2 with pocket 5's. Two limpers to me, I limp, player to my left limps, and the next 3 players proceed to raise, re-raise, and cap. 1 of the blinds calls the $24, both players that limped in front of me called, and I thought I was getting the implied odds to call the $18 as I expected a couple of more callers behind me. We take 7 to the flop with $162 in the pot after the rake and bad beat drop. The flop is 5K7 rainbow. Checks to me and I bet, 2 callers to the CO who had capped pre-flop, and he raises. I call the raise and two other call the raise as well. Pot is now $210. Turn is a 9, checks to the CO, he bets and I and 2 others call. Pot is now $260. River is a 7 filling me up, but I am concerned that CO has KK, and I check. He bets and the 3 reamining players all call. Pot is $308. CO shows pocket Tens, no other players show and I drag the monster pot!!! Hand #2 - I get JJ in CO and raise. SB and 2 others call. Flop is J44. SB bets, other 2 call, I raise and SB re-raises. Other 2 drop out, I re-raise, and SB caps. Turn is a blank, SB bets, I ask if he just wants to push our stacks in, as Harrah's allows unlimited raising if a pot is heads-up. He calls. River is a blank, he bets, I raise, he re-raises and I just call thinking that he could concievably have the Quads. He shows K4 and I drag the huge pot!!!
Sunday night - I return to Harrah's at around 10PM and the room is pretty quiet, maybe only 8 or 9 tables going. I get into a 3/6 game waiting for a 6/12 seat, and in 30 minutes loose $35. I get in a 6/12 game with a couple of super loose aggressive players. After we had been playing an hour or so, they start talking about playing with "overs". 6 or 7 at the table agree to play (including me as I thought I would just sit around and wait for premium hands). I won 4 of the 5 pots that I was in that included overs. I played for 5.5 hours and won $518. A great game.
Monday - Longest poker session of my life (13 straight hours). 30 minutes of 3/6 (waiting for a 6/12 seat) won $53. 8 hours of 6/12 with a win of $2. The players at the 6/12 table wanted to bump it up to 10/20, I agreed because I thought it was a good table, and I wanted to see how I would react in a bigger limit game. One memorable hand. I get KQs and call pre-flop. The flop is QAQ, I bet, player 2 to my left raises, all others fold, I call. Turn is an A (ugghh!!!) I bet player to my left raises, I realize his A's over boat beats my Q's over boat, and I call. The river is the case Q. I check, he raises, and we raise back and forth until he is all in (only about $120). He had an A. Thank you river. However, all in all in 4.5 hours of 10/20 I lost $355. I think my play was ok, but I got rivered 3 or 4 times in big pots. So much for the 10/20 expirement.
Tuesday - I went back to Harrah's tonight to play for a few hours before leaving early in the morning. 30 minutes of 3/6 waiting on a table, lost $79 in 2 hands where I was rivered both times. 4.5 hours of 6/12 for a $139 dollar win. One memorable hand. The last hand I was going to play before leaving, I was under the gun. I decide to straddle, and it is capped before it gets back to me. I look down and see Q9o, and decide what the heck, lets go out with a bang and call. Flop is 259 (two hearts). I check, UTG +2 bets, 3 callers, I call. Turn is a blank, I bet, all 4 players call. River is a K (no flush), board checks around, and my 9's are good.
My win totals for the trip.
3/6 - 15.5 hours and a $21 win.
6/12 - 23 hours and a $559 win.
10/20 - 4.5 hours and a $355 loss.
A grand total of 43 hours of poker, and a net win of $225. Overall, I think I did a good job of adjusting to the games here, but struggled with big pocket pairs. Many times 6 or 7 players were going to the flop, which raised havoc with big pocket pairs. For the 6 days I played, my pocket A's held up less than half the time. More players to the flop means more opportunities to draw out. Pre-flop and post flop raises did little to thin the field. But when I did win with big PP's, it was usually a good sized pot.
Thursday night - I arrive at the hotel, and by the time I get my wireless connection issues resolved and logged into Stars, I am already down to T1,410 in KOTZ. I play horribly and exit KOTZ early. I decide to go to the casino and check out the poker room. I am quickly seated in a 3/6 game, play about 2.5 hours and win $70. I had AA twice and KK once, and all 3 hands held up (more on big pocket pairs later).
Friday - I decide to try 6/12, as it looks pretty loose/passive, and proceed to go card dead and horribly play the few decent hands I get. Loose $400 in 3 hours. I decide to go back to 3/6, the cards are no better (nor is my play) and loose another $86 in 3 hours.
Saturday - 8.5 hours of 3/6 won $63, had AA cracked 3 times.
Sunday afternoon - I had a couple of hours before taking a tour of the Garden district and sat back down at 6/12 (I knew I could beat this game?). Played 2 hours and won $300. Two hands of interest. Hand #1 - I was UTG +2 with pocket 5's. Two limpers to me, I limp, player to my left limps, and the next 3 players proceed to raise, re-raise, and cap. 1 of the blinds calls the $24, both players that limped in front of me called, and I thought I was getting the implied odds to call the $18 as I expected a couple of more callers behind me. We take 7 to the flop with $162 in the pot after the rake and bad beat drop. The flop is 5K7 rainbow. Checks to me and I bet, 2 callers to the CO who had capped pre-flop, and he raises. I call the raise and two other call the raise as well. Pot is now $210. Turn is a 9, checks to the CO, he bets and I and 2 others call. Pot is now $260. River is a 7 filling me up, but I am concerned that CO has KK, and I check. He bets and the 3 reamining players all call. Pot is $308. CO shows pocket Tens, no other players show and I drag the monster pot!!! Hand #2 - I get JJ in CO and raise. SB and 2 others call. Flop is J44. SB bets, other 2 call, I raise and SB re-raises. Other 2 drop out, I re-raise, and SB caps. Turn is a blank, SB bets, I ask if he just wants to push our stacks in, as Harrah's allows unlimited raising if a pot is heads-up. He calls. River is a blank, he bets, I raise, he re-raises and I just call thinking that he could concievably have the Quads. He shows K4 and I drag the huge pot!!!
Sunday night - I return to Harrah's at around 10PM and the room is pretty quiet, maybe only 8 or 9 tables going. I get into a 3/6 game waiting for a 6/12 seat, and in 30 minutes loose $35. I get in a 6/12 game with a couple of super loose aggressive players. After we had been playing an hour or so, they start talking about playing with "overs". 6 or 7 at the table agree to play (including me as I thought I would just sit around and wait for premium hands). I won 4 of the 5 pots that I was in that included overs. I played for 5.5 hours and won $518. A great game.
Monday - Longest poker session of my life (13 straight hours). 30 minutes of 3/6 (waiting for a 6/12 seat) won $53. 8 hours of 6/12 with a win of $2. The players at the 6/12 table wanted to bump it up to 10/20, I agreed because I thought it was a good table, and I wanted to see how I would react in a bigger limit game. One memorable hand. I get KQs and call pre-flop. The flop is QAQ, I bet, player 2 to my left raises, all others fold, I call. Turn is an A (ugghh!!!) I bet player to my left raises, I realize his A's over boat beats my Q's over boat, and I call. The river is the case Q. I check, he raises, and we raise back and forth until he is all in (only about $120). He had an A. Thank you river. However, all in all in 4.5 hours of 10/20 I lost $355. I think my play was ok, but I got rivered 3 or 4 times in big pots. So much for the 10/20 expirement.
Tuesday - I went back to Harrah's tonight to play for a few hours before leaving early in the morning. 30 minutes of 3/6 waiting on a table, lost $79 in 2 hands where I was rivered both times. 4.5 hours of 6/12 for a $139 dollar win. One memorable hand. The last hand I was going to play before leaving, I was under the gun. I decide to straddle, and it is capped before it gets back to me. I look down and see Q9o, and decide what the heck, lets go out with a bang and call. Flop is 259 (two hearts). I check, UTG +2 bets, 3 callers, I call. Turn is a blank, I bet, all 4 players call. River is a K (no flush), board checks around, and my 9's are good.
My win totals for the trip.
3/6 - 15.5 hours and a $21 win.
6/12 - 23 hours and a $559 win.
10/20 - 4.5 hours and a $355 loss.
A grand total of 43 hours of poker, and a net win of $225. Overall, I think I did a good job of adjusting to the games here, but struggled with big pocket pairs. Many times 6 or 7 players were going to the flop, which raised havoc with big pocket pairs. For the 6 days I played, my pocket A's held up less than half the time. More players to the flop means more opportunities to draw out. Pre-flop and post flop raises did little to thin the field. But when I did win with big PP's, it was usually a good sized pot.