First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

Hi folks, I have been a strict low LIMIT HE player in casinos, though I have played NL cash games online and NL tournaments. I played my very first casino NL cash game (1/2) today. Wanted to post some hands to see if I bet correctly.

I was a little intimidated. Slightly intimidating looking players--or maybe they were just your average young punks with sunglasses. Tricky guys trying to slowplay their KK pre-flop for more action later (is this customary at these low levels??). Being new I decided to play a straightforward game. I was short-stacked compared to most players.

1/2 NL at the Tropicana in AC.
Hand #1
Got KJc. A short stacked villain guy who appeared to really ponder calling decisions earlier, raises to 10. Couple callers, I decide to call. Flop, KJx with two spades up. Villain bets 10, others fold, and to me with my top two pair I raise to 30, he calls and we are heads up. Turn is a rag spade, but I am slightly worried with that flush draw on board. He checks to me, I go all in for 57. He thinks for a while but calls. Two pair KJ is good and I take the pot.

Hand #2
Couple hands later, same villain is short-stacked and goes all-in for 23. There are some folds, then action to me and I see JJ. I raise to 50 to get remaining players out. Indeed, it becomes heads-up. Lucky me, board is ten and rags, he shows KQ offsuit and I take the pot, sending him home.

Hand #3
I see red AA under the gun. Minimum bet is 2 but I raise to 15. Everyone folds to me (did I bet too much)? In disgust I show my AA expressing frustration that nobody wanted to play with me.

At that point, I had doubled my buy-in and was just happy to get out of there a winner. I didn't want to pay blinds on the next hand so I bolted out of there.

I was incredibly lucky to get three good hands like that--the rest were all easy pre-flop folds, but I wondered if I played these hands right. Any suggestions?

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

hand 1- seems fine.

hand 2- a little more information (stack sizes?) would help, but it seems fine.

hand 3- easy there. encourage some action with AA... you won't get nearly as much as you'd like with 7.5XBB openers. 3 or 4 XBB is a fine open-raise.

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

seems good from here.

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

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hand 2- a little more information (stack sizes?) would help, but it seems fine.

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Most of the guys had stacks in the several hundreds. I felt a little intimidated having to make a 50 dollar bet against these guys, but looking at JJ I knew what I needed to do and get heads-up against shortstacked villain to win his 23 dollars.

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hand 3- easy there. encourage some action with AA... you won't get nearly as much as you'd like with 7.5XBB openers. 3 or 4 XBB is a fine open-raise.

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Yeah I thought so, I knew it was an overbet. Since I was under the gun, I had planned to leave the table anyway after that hand. I was just so delighted to see AA and maybe unconsciously, I did what I did so I could grab the blinds and get the heck out of there. Oh, careful what you wish for...that's exactly what happened and nobody played with me.

Thanks for the feedback.

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

Dont show your cards. What do you hope to accomplish by this, letting everyone know to fold when you have AA?

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

Sunglass wearers at $1/2 are wannabes. Stay around and bust them all.

Hand 3 too much I think, considering you folded almost everything else and were utg, played like a legend other two hands, I'd fold QQ against you.

Hand 2 Nice I think, reraising an all-in man looks like strenght to me so 50 should do the same as 75 while saving you enough to buy some cheap glasses to fit in.

Hand 1 Need stack sizes as I'm not sure about calling an ep villian with KJs. Just big stack/average/huge will do.

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

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Dont show your cards. What do you hope to accomplish by this, letting everyone know to fold when you have AA?

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yeah, probably the worst thing you can do is let the table know you're playing scared

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

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I didn't want to pay blinds on the next hand so I bolted out of there.

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$3? If the table was that juicy, you shouldn't ever "bolt" out of there, but it's just a small note. Your EV should be constant for every hand.

Re: First NL live casino game: how\'d I play?
 

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Dont show your cards. What do you hope to accomplish by this, letting everyone know to fold when you have AA?

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yeah, probably the worst thing you can do is let the table know you're playing scared

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Okay, point taken. Though, I knew I was leaving right after that hand (they didn't know that). It was just fortunate for me that I got AA on the last free hand before I needed to pay blinds. Maybe they will never ever see me again, I don't get down to AC much (and they never saw me before). Hopefully I'll slink into the shadows of anonymity for a while [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

I wanted to "bolt out of there" not only because I was slightly scared. There were other factors--I needed to get back to the hotel to pack and check out. With a "juicy" game such as that and given more time, maybe I would have stuck around for more orbits.

But I'll definitely keep the no-show thing in mind. Thanks.