Turning Stone Trip Report: NL100 to No Max NL, and Keno Too!

[Cornell Fiji]

Yesterday was the first time that I really played at Turning Stone's $5-$10, $20 bring in no-limit game with no maximum buy in (I had sat there once before but was simply a nut peddler for an hour) and hopefully the process of writing this report will help me learn from the session.

If it doesn't help, I have some interesting stories and hands to talk about so at the very least I hope that you will find the report to be entertaining and valuble to your poker experience. I apologize in advance for the length, hopefully it will be a captivating enough report to hold your attention.


I played at Turning Stone two of the past three weekends and was really playing some great poker. My session three weeks ago was highlighted by going all-in blind (four times) in an attempt to get a bigger stack than the $100 that was permitted -- I lost 3 of 4 and also by my playing one of best hands that I have ever played:

I had been playing with the villain for 6 hours at this point. About three hours ago he had taken down almost all of my $500 stack when he flopped a set of kings against my set of 8s. I had since built my stack back to $650 and he was around $600. It was 3:00 am and we were short handed. For the past 6 hours my standard preflop raise was $11 and I was raising nearly 80% of all pots that came to me without a raise (and was winning a good amount of those hands.) I always like to overbet my pocket aces (to thin the field) and feared that I wouldn't get any action the next time that I was dealt them because I would be forced to make a nonstandard raise to thin the field. Therefore I decided that the next time that I picked up suited connectors I would play them as if they were aces and then show my cards when my opponent folded. (the plan seemed a lot more logical at the time than it does, but never the less that was what I was thinking going into the hand)

NL100, 1-2 blinds. Two limpers to me (including the villain on my right) in LP. I look down at 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and raise to $15. I know that warning bells have to be going off in the villains head. The button calls (uh oh) and to my surprise the villain raises to $45 (I am sure that he had noticed that I raised nearly all pots that came to me without a raise and was planning on the check-raise from the start of the hand.) I call without hesitation putting the villain on a high pair and praying that it wasn’t aces. After a long deliberation the button mucks (he later claims to have had QQ)

Flop ($117): 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
villain checks, I check

Turn: 6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
villain bets $40, I raise to $140, villain mucks HIS pocket queens because he just KNEW that I had aces. I table my aces, uh... I mean 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], as I had planned but immediately regretted it because the villain looked like he was about to break out into tears. He had thought that he had just made the best read of his life and laid down a huge hand, but in reality he was simply outplayed.

I say that this is the greatest hand that I have ever played even though I have played in much bigger pots. The reason for this is because of the way that I formulated a plan and executed it to perfection. I had my opponent perfectly read, furthermore I knew that he knew I had him read, plus I knew how he read me. I put all of this information together and was quite proud of the result.

Two weeks ago at Turning Stone my trip was highlighted by the hand against the ultimate rock where I called him down without hesitation when I held fourth pair on the board and he was doing significant betting. He is an very good player (although in my oppinion he is too tight) but he knows that I judge him as being a rock. Based on that he decided to run a bluff on me. However, the way that the hand played out I simply knew that he thought that I was thinking that because he is so tight he must have a good hand and therefore he was using that assumption to run me off of my (junk) hand. I called the whole way and MHWG. Needless to say I was playing great poker and could not wait for my next trip to The Stone.

My last assignment for school was a paper that was due on Friday. My plan was to finish up the paper by Wednesday, hand it in, and win about a grand a day from Wed-Fri so that I could buy into the big no limit game that is run on Fridays. Unfortunately, the paper dragged out (most likely because for every hour of work that I put in I put in three hours reading twoplustwo. By the time that the paper was completed I had read every new post on every forum) and I did not submit it until midnight on Friday (what is it that they say about the best laid plans...) Immediately upon completion of my paper I hopped in my car and headed for Turning Stone. A friend of mine was flying out of Syracuse in the morning so he made the trip up with me, I was tired from writing the paper all day so I had my friend drive so that I could get an hour and a half of sleep in the car.

When we pulled into at Turning Stone at 2:00am Saturday I was exhausted and told my friend that I was going to take a nap in the Keno lounge before I sat down at the tables.

By the time I got to the door the plan changed and I headed straight to the poker room. As I was waiting for my seat at the NL 100 max buy in table I watched the big game and wished that I had gotten my paper finished earlier so that I could have built a stack big enough to play. The average stack at the table at that point was about 4k and the big stack at the table, this kid who didn't look a day over 21, had about 10k.

When I got my seat at the table a quick glance at the stacks had a kid 2 seats to my right with about $325, the man to my left with about $200, and the rest of the stacks seemed to be between $75-$175. After about an hour and a half of playing I was still yet to see a showdown (in fact, I don't even think that I saw a river) although I had built my stack up to a little under $300. Through the eyes of the 5 or so players at the table who pay attention to that sort of thing my image seemed to be a little bit on the tight side when the following string of hands came along:

I am on the button with 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
One limper to the kid to my right who made it $10 to go
(when I say kid here I mean kid, I think he was 15 years old and heard him talking to someone about how he was in highschool and hoped not go get carded. He was naturally a scared player and only played Sklansky group one hands and played them cautiously at that. At the Turning Stone NL table, that strategy can make you the chip leader as people spew their chips at you when you hold the nuts)
I decide to try to change my table image in a direct attempt to loosen the kid up in future hands against me so that I could take a shot at his stack and I raise to $40, everyone folds and I table my hand and ask the kid "did you have me beat?"

Next hand I am dealt 3 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

A few limpers to me and I make my standard $11 raise.
To my dismay the guy to my left ($181) mkaes it $21 to go, chasing my implied odds right out of the hand.
Everyone folds to me and I call.

Flop: K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
I do my best (and and completely transparent) Mike Caro 'weak means strong' impression as I 'check to the bettor' and he led out for $60 (I had him on a pocket pair and a pocket pair only preflop, could this be possible, does he really have Kings full vs. my flopped quads?) I call.

Turn is ... well I don't remember what the turn was because I had quads!
I check. Villain bets all in ($100). I flip up my cards and say 'call' (villain actually had pocket queens here, I am surprised that he bet again after I called his flop bet but am glad that I did not lead out. Had he checked I would have made a small ($50) value bet on the river)

The very next hand I am dealt pocket aces and take down a moderate ($80... $30 of which was mine) sized pot and look down to see a stack of around $600. When I look around the table I see that other than the kid to my right ($435) and one player accross the table ($200) no one else had a stack that was much bigger than $100. I passively was watching the big game with its $10,000 pots and real poker being played and wished that I had finished my paper by Wednesday.

I continued to take shots at the kid on my right, calling his raises with any two cards because I knew what he had and believed I could outplay him if I could catch something sneaky (I realize that this isn't exactly a winning long term strategy per 'se but if I couldn't outplay the child whoose cards were practically see through then I didn't really belong at a poker table. I stole a couple pots from him by betting ragged flops when he had bet $7-$12 preflop (AK, AQ -- he wanted callers) and all unders fell and also when he had bet $15-$20 (big pair, wanted to chase people out) and an ace flopped. It was like taking candy from a baby.

I was at $670 when this new player at the table (young black guy, about 27) sat down playing any two suited cards like they were gold pushed all in against me with a draw, I think I had top pair or an overpair and called and the draw came. Down to $570.

In the next 3 rotations the black guy turned his stack of $200 into $500 by sucking out, another flush, calling a shortstack's QQ with his AK and flopping a boat, and my personal favorite, calling someone’s all in ($60) on the flop: (Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]) when he had AK (the other guy had KQ and lost to the 3 outter ace on the turn.) After he caught he replied ‘I just knew an ace was going to turn.’

If there was one guy at the table who could have a big stack it was this guy. I salivated as I fantasized about doubling through him and taking my stack over to the big game.

I lost another big hand when a new player to my right sat down and played the following hand against me (I think I played the hand fairly well despite the fact that I doubled him up)

He bets $12, I call with my 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and we take the flop heads up

Flop ($27): T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2 :club
Check, check

Turn ($27): J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (the best card I could have seen)
He bets $12, I think and raise to $40 – (he has $76 left at this point with his $12 in the pot), to my surprise he calls. My read on him was that he did have some sort of a hand and couldn’t decide if my raise meant that I was making a play on him or that I had a monster.

River ($104): A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
He checks, I think that if he didn’t have confidence in his hand on the turn there is no way that he likes his hand after that ace and I move him all in ($48) he thinks… and calls with his (AQo.)

Final Pot ($203 - $3 for the house…)

He had 5 cards in the deck (2 non heart aces, 3 non heart kings) that would allow him to call a river all in. I took consolation in the face that I correctly read his turn call as being weak and willing to fold on the river.


I am down to $470 when this absolutely ridiculous hand comes up:

The pot is unraised when it gets to me in middle position so I raise it to $11 with my Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Black guy ($400) calls as does Villain ($220) on the button

Flop ($33): A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Now most people would check their two way double runner-runner straight draw here with two players left to act but not me! I bet $35. Black guy folds and villain calls

Turn ($93): 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Well something about the villain told me that he thought I was just betting the flop because I had raised preflop, He also was a pretty tight player so I decided to put the pressure on him and make him decide if he really wanted to go broke with this hand. He had $174 left so I bet $100 (effectively making him go all in if he decided to call) with my pair of fours. I knew that he would fold any hand other than AA, TT, 44, AK, A4, and AT here and he would not have seen a flop for $11 with AT, A4 or 44 and he would have raised with AA leaving me with TT and AK as possibities. I thought he would also lay down AK here most of the time. After a few minutes of genuine anguish (I guess he doesn’t have that set) he called my bet. Uh oh.

His call strangely left him with $74 left. Obviously in NL when you make a call of more than half your stack you might as well push all in but alas, he just called.

River ($293): 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] I know that he doesn’t have clubs because, well because there is no way that he would have made the call on any street with two clubs

I comment ‘I don’t like that club but I gotta put you all in’
He replies ‘I don’t want to make this call but I have to, I call’
I say ‘You really don’t want to see this. I’m sorry.’ And flip up my Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] … Runner-Runner trips.
He shows his AK and MHIG.

Obviously I got extreamely lucky to win that hand. After the flops I needed runner –runner to win and I caught. However had he not acted like a complete dead fish and raised me on ANY street the hand would have been his. He was willing to go all-in but called his way there and in doing so cost himself a big pot

Final Pot: $441 - $3 rake – Mandatory $10 tip for runner – runner = $428


Funny comment from the kid who would take the empty seat left by fishy Mr. AK:
To me ‘I remember you, you’re the guy who reraised preflop with 27suited’
Seemingly the rest of the table in unison ‘he just made that same play a half an hour ago! And you should have seen what he just fishy Mr. AK out with!’

When I get a big stack at these NL 100 max tables often times players will get scared and stop giving me action so I try to make a flashy play such as reraising with 27 suited when I think that I can take the pot down preflop and then turning over my cards and announcing ‘but they were suited.’ This play usually loosens the table right up.

Stack up to around $730 when Tina sat down to deal. I tell myself that if I can get up above $1,000 I will add $300 from my wallet and move over to the big NL game.

The child was cashing out a stack of $400, pretty good for a tight, unimaginative 15 year old, and I offered him to go all in blind for $400. He refused. I then offered a $400 coin flip and then a $300 coin flip (so he could either be up $600 or even) he refused and I stayed at the NL100 game

On Tina’s first deal I was dealt (5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] ) and with 4 limpers to me I made it $11 to go out of my small blind. Black guy ($400) called as he would do every single time that I was in a hand for the rest of the night, regardless of what his cards were or how much I raised preflop. Kid who I doubled up with my 9 high ($175) also called.

3 to the flop.
Flop ($39): T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
I bet $15, black guy calls, button calls

Turn ($69): 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
I bet $30, black guy calls $30, button raises $50 more, I go all in, black guy folds, button calls ($65)

Me: ‘I flopped a set’
Button: Good hand. ‘I have two pair’

River ($389) K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Black guy goes nuts because he had a ‘eight high club draw’ and he would have hit.
I flip up my 5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5 :club
Button face up mucks his two pair 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Guy to my left who wasn’t even in the hand. In fact I don’t even think he was dealt a hand, says ‘son, you don’t have two pair you have a flush’
And Tina pushes the pot to the button who replied ‘I didn’t even know that they were clubs’

Final pot ($389 - $3 - $5 ‘I won it on the river’ tip)

I start to tell the guy on my left that if he is not in a hand to kindly keep his mouth shut, then I think about runner – runner fours and just decide to drop the issue.

The very next hand the Black guy to my left pushed all in with a flush draw against the 2/5 kid’s TPTK, sucked out, and took his ($381 -$3 for the house - $5 ‘suck out’ tip… at least Tina was doing well)

Tina would go on to give me two more pocket pairs that would flop sets and after her half hour I was back up to $700

Our game was down to 5 players and all of a sudden became a lot of fun.

I made a few flashy raises with junk hands and flipped them up saying things like ‘I had to raise, they were the same color’ or, when betting, winning, and then turning over my 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] with no 2s, 3s, or diamond on the flop asking ‘was my 3 high good? It was suited’

This couldn’t have made the table any looser. It was common to have all 5 players see a $11 raise preflop and there was significant postflop action too. I increased my standard raise from $11 to $16 to $21 but this didn’t make much of a difference in the amount of action that I got. We were almost like the big boys, paying $20 to see each flop.

It was 5:30 am and the big game had been going 3 handed (with stacks of 3k, 6k, 9k) for the past hour. Turning Stone only runs the big game on Fridays. They let the game go until it breaks but once it breaks they don’t start it up again until 5:00 pm on Friday.

I had $750 on the table, if only I could double through the black guy ($600) I could play in the big game…

Every hand I played against him had the potential to be the one however we never saw a river in the same pot.

At 6:30 our game had filled back to 10 players and everyone was tight as a rock. One average 3 pots were now being raised every rotation. I ($800) started playing Sklansky group one hands only, knowing that my table image was enough to get me paid off (no one would notice that I had changed gears) and waited…

I was practically falling asleep in my chair and was contemplating taking a break.

At 6:45 the big game broke. They had been going heads up for about 25 minutes and this kid from the University of Texas finally took out his opponent with a flush on the river.

The floor came over and the dealer started to get up…

Meanwhile, we were at the table next to the big game and I decided that it was time to make the move. I tapped the U Texas kid on the shoulder and asked ‘Do you want to play heads up, I can only buy in for $1,100’ he agreed and the game was on.



OK Steve, you’re in the big game now, be smart. Wake up.

I took my $800 from the first game and $300 out of my pocket and bought in.

I consider my self to be a great NL hold’em player and I think that I am better shorthanded than in a full game because I am able to play more hands and go with my reads more.

I thought about what my table image would be. Through the eyes of the U Texas kid (7k on the table) I was a small stakes player moving up out of my league. I was liable to play scared and would most likely would fold to a big raise or an all in bet.

I figured that he would play aggressively and would try to push me off the best hand when he held draws or other speculative hands but I was ready to play, worse comes to worse I would get knocked out, would be down $-400 and would make it back at the NL100 game the next day.

The first hand I was SB, I folded
Then he folded
Then I folded
Then he folded
Then I raised to $60, he folded
Then he folded
Then I raised to $60, he folded…

We didn’t see a flop for 15 minutes. I was up about $75 from stealing blinds when I raised to $60 and he reraised, I folded, he flashed AQs, back to even.

The first flop we saw went like this:

I am on the button with 3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and make it $40 to go
He raises to $100. I put him on 2 big cards or a big pair. Something that I could definitely break if I hit the right flop.

Flop ($200): 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Bingo! I flopped an open ender. UTexas led out for $120 and I min raised him to $240.

The reasoning behind my min raise was that if he held two big cards he would most likely check the turn, allowing me to either get to the river for free or to try to take the pot away from him. If one of those big cards was an ace and an ace fell I would make my straight and would have made the pot big enough for him to be unable to get off of his hand.

If he had a big pair (other than AA) he would likely raise me back 50%-75% of the time and I would have to give up the pot. Although it might appear that this would make calling a better option for me it is important to realize that 4 of my outs were aces and if he held an overpair an ace could significantly stifle the action. I wasn’t going to get paid off by an overpair anyway making this a good raise in my opinion.

Unfortunately, he reraised me all in. I counted the pot ($680) and saw that I had $760 more to call. There was a chance that he would make this play with just two big cards meaning that probably 25% of the time I was a slight dog with any A, 3, 5, or 6 winning the pot for me and 75% I was a big dog with any A or 6 winning. Given that analysis, with $680 of dead money in the pot I probably had the right odds to call. I decided to lay it down however and the villain flashed his 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] .double belly buster draw. I could only imagine calling and losing a $2200 pot with my 5 high to my opponent’s 6 high.

After the hand I added on another $150 and 30 minutes and only 1 flop later (I raised to $60 preflop, bet the flop and took it down) my stack was back around $1200 when a third player (the guy who had been playing the UTexas player heads up before I changed games) sat down and bought in for $500.

I knew that I had to be vigilant about stealing blinds and making sure that my blinds were not constantly attacted so I vowed to raise my button and defend my blinds.

The game fell into a pattern. I would raise to $60 on the button and steal the blinds ($15) 80% of the time. When I got called I would bet out $100 and win ($125) 2/3 of the time . When I got called on the flop I would usually surrender to a bet on the turn to lose ($160) 8% of the time.

.8 * 15 = 12
.133 * 75 = 9.96
.0667 * (-160) = -10.65

On average this play therefore made me $11.31. Also it allowed me to get value out of any big hands that I did have on the button as my opponents would just think I was blind stealing.

I also knew that it was necessary to defend my own blinds. Therefore whenever I was on the big blind, the button (UTexas kid) folded, and the other guy called ($20) I would raise to $80. Whenever he raised to $40, I would reraise to $100. I reasoned that even if he called I was in position and doing this would stop him from calling and raising with marginal hands in the future. In addition my hand would be disguised if I ever got a big hand in the big blind.

Before I realized it I had become the aggressor at the table!

I was at about $1200. UTexas had knocked out the third guy and had more chips than I cared to count. And the third guy had rebought for $500 more. When a 30 something man wearing wraparound sunglasses sat down in the ten seat ($1500) I was in the 1 seat so he was directly to my right.

The first time I was in the big blind UTexas and other guy folded and sunglasses raised to $40. Defending my blind with my Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] I raised to $100. He called.

Flop ($200) came: A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Perfect. My preflop raise said that I had an ace (he was new to my automatic blind defense tactic) and I had flopped a draw. He bet $150, I thought about raising but thought that a call would look more like an ace. I called.

Turn ($500): K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
He bet $200
I assumed that he had either an A or a K but thought that my preflop raise, flop call screamed that I had AK or AQ or something similar and had him beat. I had $850 left but thought I had significant folding equity in the pot which would be $1200 with my call, plus if I did get called I had flush outs. I pushed for $650 more.

The villain took off his sunglasses and stared me down. (uh oh, does he have a little ace?) I did my best to look weak, knowing that he would read this as strength.

‘Do you have an ace?’ he asked?
I shrugged.

2 minutes of staring me down later he mucked his K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] face up and my stack was at $1850

I lost a couple small pots and was back down to $1500 when the following hand came up.

I was in the BB with 7 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and everyone folded to sunglasses (he had me covered) in the SB who called. I raised to $80 and he called.

Flop ($160) came: T [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T :spade
He checked, I bet $200, He minraised to $400
I angrily sat and my first thought was that he had a ten, I was leaning toward mucking when I said, pretty much talking to myself ‘the problem is, I think that I have you beat.’ When I decided that that he wouldn’t check raise me with trips because there are no draws and that he most likely would have raised preflop with a pocket pair I again pushed all of my chips into the middle.

The sunglasses came off as he stared me down once again. I think you have a medium pocket pair he said, after a little thought he mucked his hand. The score was Steve 2, Sunglasses 0.

UTexas had again knocked out ‘the other guy’ and we were back down to 3 handed when the following scenario came up. UTexas left to go to the bathroom on his big blind. Sunglasses was the button and I was the small blind. Because the big blind left, the next player became the big blind. The problem with that was if he became the big blind then he would be the big blind on the button and when heads up the button must be the small blind. Unable to convince the dealer that we really didn’t care he called the floor over. The floor said he didn’t know what to do and 5 minutes later (keep in mind that we were paying $8 every half hour) UTexas came back.

During the commotion, in a brain freeze moment, I moved to the other side of UTexas to get position on the big stack (of course it was better to have position on sunglasses because he was so aggressive but I didn’t realize that until right after changing seats. O well)

I played a really stupid hand against UTexas, where I had AT, top pair aces with a decent kicker. When a third club fell on the river, UTexas bet $300 into me. He had been really tight all night and I just knew that he had the flush. Then I began to think that he knew that I knew that he had been tight and therefore was betting a scare card. For whatever reason I convinced myself that THIS was what was going on and I for one was not going to be bullied! I called only to see his flush and was back down to $1300.

A few missed preflop bets and I was back down to $1100

At $1100 the following hand came up against Sunglasses ($2000)

UTexas folds the button and I raise to the small blind to $75with my lucky 69s (6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] ) Sunglasses called.

Flop ($150): A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
I decide to represent an ace and check, sunglasses checks behind.

Turn ($150): 5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
I bet $200, Sunglasses calls. Crap!

River ($550): 8 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
I can’t believe what fell. I grab a handful of chips, recoil, feign a check, cut out some of my stack and say ‘I’m all in’

Sunglasses asks ‘do you have pocket queens?’
I shrug

He calls with his A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (that’s what you get for slowplaying!)
And when I turn over the nuts he is dumbfounded.

Final pot $2600

Steve 3, Sunglasses 0

I decide that whenever people start buying in with an amount that covers me I will stop playing and take a nap. I am really tired at this point but am having a grand old time as the table captain at the big game. I have 3 and a half 20 stacks of green chips, 2 big stacks of reds, and a handful of blacks. Yep, I’m the [censored].

UTexas cashes out his 7k (he would later say that he was even for the session) and is replaced by ‘the other guy’ and someone waiting for a 10-20 seat. Both bought in for $500. When the 10-20 player left one of the regulars from the big NL game sat down. Apparently the floor called him to let him know that the game had survived the night and that if he came in the morning it might be able to continue all day.

I am at $2300 and again find myself in the small blind in a hand against Sunglasses ($700)

I raise (5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 5 :diamond) to $100 preflop and he calls.

Flop ($200): 8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
I check, planning on check-raising. He checks

Turn ($160): K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
I check, planning on calling Sunglasses’ all-in overbet, he moves all in and I call. (He later said that I announced ‘call’ before he finished the word ‘in’ what could I say, I knew my opponent)

He said: ‘good call, good hand’
And I tally the scoreboard to read Steve 4, Sunglasses 0.

River ($1400) 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Sunglasses dejectedly flips up his K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] . WHAT????
Dumbfounded I muck my pocket 5s face up and ask ‘GOOD CALL?!?!?!’
He explained that when I called so quickly he thought that I had, trips, a boat, or at least a bigger King than he did and apologized for what might have appeared to me as slowrolling!

Steve 4, Sunglasses 1

2 hours later I ($1600) haven’t really played a big hand when a new player sits down and buys in for $300 (the table minimum) I scoff at his shameful stack, after a small win he is at $400.

We are now 5 handed. I raise to $80 UTG with J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
He calls in the small blind.

Flop ($160): Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
He bets $35, I raise to $100, he calls.

Turn ($360): 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
He checks, I put him all in ($300), he calls.

I say ‘I need help;
He turns over 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] . I look at the board, I look at his hand, I look at the board, I look at his hand, I am confused. I work backwards. Did he just call an all in with a pair of 7s, 3 kicker? Did he just call a flop raise with 7 high? Did he call a raise preflop with 73s?

Help does not arrive on the river.

I say ‘good call, nice hand’


Mr. 73s proceeded to take down 13 of the next 16 hands (7 of which were off of Sunglasses) gave me $300 on a bluff, picked up his roll of $1750, and left before the better players could get it back.


An hour later, I think it is around noon but I am not wearing a watch, the table is 9 handed. For some reason everyone has bought in for $1000 or less (From what i have seen, the average buy in for this game is normally around 3k) and my $2000 stack is still the big stack on the table. I think about going to sleep because it looks like the game will not break until at least the early morning but decide to keep playing for a little while longer. I decide that I will play rock tight but will be very aggressive in the hands that I do play so that I can push people around and steal a lot of pots when I am on draws etc.

The table fills up when an old man with a nerve disease (his hands shook uncontrollably when he was in a hand) takes the last seat. He wins a small pot and his stack is at $1200 when the following hand comes up:

I hold J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] in late position. Two limpers to me and I make it $100 in an attempt to steal the $55 in the pot and end it right there. If I get called, I decide that I am going to play the jacks for their set value only.

Mr. Shakes calls in the small blind.

Flop ($250) comes 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 5: spade: 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Mr. Shakes checks. I bet $150, Mr. Shakes calls.

I put him on a blind defense call and a hand like A8 or A5 but remind myself that I don’t want to be playing a big hand with JJ

Turn ($550): 7 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Mr. Shakes bets $200 and the little voice inside my head says “fold it Steve” the problem is that there is now $750 in there with his bet and I just KNOW that I am ahead. I can’t put him on a hand with a 6 in it other than 66 and I think that he would have reraised me with QQ-AA. It is possible that he has a set but has been playing the hand way to passively to have a set. Either way, I don’t want to be playing a big hand with jacks! I don’t know what to do.

I decide that if he doesn’t have a set or two pair (he would play them faster) and he doesn’t have QQ-AA, and I don’t think that he has a 6 I have to call. Realizing that all river cards other than a 9, T, or J represents a scare card I can’t possibly just call so

I put him all in ($750 more). He calls (crap!) and turns over Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (WHAT?!! Wow, nice read Steve, way to go, nice hand you’re rich!)

River ($2450): K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

I say ‘good hand.’ I expect this sort of thing at the NL100 table but damn, this one hurt a little bit more, instead of a stack of $3250 I am now at $800.

I decide to go to sleep when the blinds get to me and leave the table up a mere $200 for the day. (I had added about $500 to the table since I sat down)

I steal a small pot and am at $900 when the blinds get to me. I keep playing.

A couple hands later I am on the button with two preflop callers. I raise to $100 with my J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (TILT!), Sunglasses calls me in the big blind, everyone else folds.

Flop ($245): Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Haha I hit a piece of that flop!
Sunglasses checks, I bet $200, Sunglasses raises to $400. I remember having the exact same action when I held 77 against him way earlier in the session. I bet preflop, he checked and I bet $200 on the flop, he raised to $400, I pushed and he mucked. Ok, then I know what to do: ‘I’m all in’ (TILT!)

Sunglasses: ‘call’
Me: F***

Sunglasses turns over Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Turn: Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

River: 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

And I’m out.


I put my name on the board for the NL100 max game and in the meantime put $100 down on the blackjack table. Making the $10 minimum bet I lose 11 out of 12 hands and am out.

I sit down at the NL 100 max table overplay a pocket pair, run into pocket queens and lose $100 on my first rotation.

Time for bed I say as I head to the Keno lounge… but the tilt continued. I decided to play a game of Keno in order to give the appearance that I was there to play and not a bum using the lounge to sleep. One game turned into 2, into 15… I looked at the prize distribution and thought about how cool it would be to take down that $100,000 and sit back at the NL no max table with $10,000. After 15 games and $75 I fell asleep. About 100 keno games later (they are numbered, I had no watch on) I was awoken by a security guard. I tell him I am getting up, about 50 games later I am awoken again and find a new place to sleep.

100 keno games later (my new way of telling time) I wake up refreshed, with $100 left in my wallet I decide its all or nothing time but instead of going back to the poker room it was back to the Keno lounge where 10 games later, playing, I was broke.

I wandered around for an hour, watching people dump their money in the table games and finally went home. When I got in my car it was 4:00 am. I had a hell of a session, had a great run, and when from the top of the world to flat broke in a matter of minutes.

I will be back though. I saw that I was able to not just play at the big game but I was able to dominate it. I will be back, and I will dominate.


Thanks for reading this. I hope you found it interesting. Please reply to this message with comments on any of the hands or just to say that you read it and enjoyed the story (or that you feel like I owe you the 30 minutes of your life that reading this story took from you – If its any consolation, It took me 4 hours to write all of this down.)

-Steve

[Michael Davis]

This joke is too lengthy and elaborate.

-Michael

[CCx]

entertaining trip report, got me through halftime of the 4pm football game on tv [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] sorry to hear that you lost your loot...

[Falker11]

You degenerate gambling f**k. Haha sounds like you had a great time on a great run...imagine where would would have made it if a couple cards fell your way, but thats poker.
I'm sorry to hear that the keno balls were mercilous in there kicking of your nuts...but it serves you right. I am glad to know that I am not the only degenerate at Cornell who lives and dies at the mercy of the balls (of course the most I have ever lost in a keno session is 8 bucks).
Anyway I hope you have a great break and I'll see ya back on campus in January.
-Falker

[O71394658]

Great post dude.

Reraising with suited connectors and playing them like a big pair is one of my favorite plays in NL. It's a great move to have in your arsenal. ;-)

Sorry to hear you lost your stack, but you can definitely run over that table in the future. Best of luck.

[BK_]

nice post man. ill be back up at cornell in the spring and ive never been to tstone, though im interested in trying out that game.

[DrGutshot]

This is an excellent report. You definitely sound like a very smart no limit player. However, I would be more careful about your game selection...

Call me a pu**y, but I wouldn't play the 1/2 NL without a bankroll of at least $1500. I once heard that the absolute max buyin for a NL game should be 10% of your bankroll. The swings are just so huge in NL that anything higher than that is bankroll suicide.

And also, don't do any other types of gambling in a casino...it's just a bad idea.

Try to pace yourself in games...especially with your read-heavy based aggressive play, bankroll management is crucial. Taking "stabs" at high buyin NL games can, and will, end in disaster.

-DrG

[Jonny]

good post.. I think I'm going to start going all in more when its shorthanded...

[B1GF1SHY]

[ QUOTE ]
The swings are just so huge in NL that anything higher than that is bankroll suicide.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you joking? Limit has smaller swings?

[dtbog]

You forgot one important line:

Steve 4, Sunglasses 2.

Have you seen that guy around TS before? I remember one guy in wraparound sunglasses -- but that could have been Lavar Burton from Reading Rainbow. Who knows.

Is UTexas kid the same guy we were talking about last time we were there? Wonder if he posts here...

Great trip report, man -- sorry about the Keno losses.

[ QUOTE ]
His call strangely left him with $74 left. Obviously in NL when you make a call of more than half your stack you might as well push all in but alas, he just called.

[/ QUOTE ]

At least this is better than people who bet $50 on the flop, get raised, and then lead out for $20 on the turn.

[ QUOTE ]
I tell him I am getting up, about 50 games later I am awoken again and find a new place to sleep.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where'd you sleep?

[ QUOTE ]
The reasoning behind my min raise was that if he held two big cards he would most likely check the turn, allowing me to either get to the river for free or to try to take the pot away from him. If one of those big cards was an ace and an ace fell I would make my straight and would have made the pot big enough for him to be unable to get off of his hand.

If he had a big pair (other than AA) he would likely raise me back 50%-75% of the time and I would have to give up the pot. Although it might appear that this would make calling a better option for me it is important to realize that 4 of my outs were aces and if he held an overpair an ace could significantly stifle the action. I wasn’t going to get paid off by an overpair anyway making this a good raise in my opinion.

[/ QUOTE ]

I usually hate min-raises, but with your explanation I like this play a lot.

Unrelated: when UTexas showed his 56s, did you factor this into your reads of his reraises throughout the night? (can't really just put him on a big pair or big cards anymore -- was he making plays like this all night?)

-DB