a couple of notes on the live at the bike....from seat 2

[riverboatking]

ok so i was in seat two...and i wanted to offer a couple of brief explanations for a couple of the pots that i played, as they may have looked a little odd to those of you watching.

obviously the biggest pot of the night was the hand where i had QQ vs. 44, and those of you who have played deep stacked no-limit may have been curious as to why i played the hand as i did.

in order to understand the hand you need to have some background on seat 5.
he runs the corporation which banks all the pai gow and blackjack games at the bike, and he is extremely loaded.
he is also one of the most loose aggressive players in the game (he is a regular).
i play with him at least four times a week and he has no problem calling HUGE bets and raises with draws, and he is completely willing to make huge bluffs into very scary boards.
he is a very nice guy however he is a gambler and the money doesn't seem to mean that much for him.

which is why he either wins very big, or loses very big.

if you remember there was a hand earlier where i made a four card straight on a paired board and ended up paying him off on a nice pot when he made a boat.
i said it at the time and i'll repeat it now, if its any other player on the table (besides seat 6 who is also a major LAG) i fold the hand, however when mike makes a hand he gets paid off its that simple.
because he would make that same play on the river with a busted flush draw/two pair/trips.

ok so on the big hand i have QQ with the queen of hearts and the board comes 9 high w/three hearts.

seat 5 bets 100, seat 6 raises to 400 and i make it 1K to go.
realize that i play with these players almost every day so my play is very read dependent. i knew that seat 6 wasn't very strong, because he has slowplayitis, and i also know that seat 5 won't think twice about calling 1K with anything from JJ with jack of hearts to AQ with ace of hearts.
he loves to chase flush draws and he also can't get away from overpairs.
anytime i get AA or KK and he has an overpair to the flop he goes bust...he just can't get away.

now on the turn it bricks off, and he checks.
normally vs a regular player i check behind on the turn, however vs. mike the majority of the time i'm way ahead and if i check not only will i give him a free shot at the draw, but i will ensure that i face a huge bet on the river, as he is a compulsive bluffer.

ok so the other interesting hand that i thought i'd share a quick thought on was the hand where mo (seat 9) had AA and i had AJ.
there was a straddle and mo limped (because it was seat 5 straddling and mo expected him to raise as he will almost 80% of the time). however i decided to isolate mo and seat 5 (mo is the prop player and while he is a very good player, he likes to gamble, will play any two, and is not afraid to make big bluffs/semi-bluffs).

i raised on the button w/ AJ clubs and suprisingly seat 5 folded and i took the flop heads up w/ mo.

the flop came Q109 w/ one club giving me a OESD, overcard to the flop and backdoor flush draw.

mo checked i bet around 200 and mo made it 700 to go.
at this point i have two options i can fold or i can push.
if i call and don't hit on the turn my hand is [censored] and i know mo is pushing and i won't be able to call.
i can certainly fold and move on to the next hand, but i thought that if i pushed i would have a lot of folding equity.

i know mo, i play with him everyday and so i knew he didn't have a set. i also knew that if i pushed he wasn't going to call me w/ a one pair hand, and he might even lay down bottom two.
he gives me respect and while he is willing to gamble (more so preflop then postflop) he is also capable of laying down big hands, and understands the difference between betting and calling.
so i made a read on him and pushed and it worked.

those are the only two hands that i can think of that i thought you guys might want some insight into however, i was drinking quite a bit (which is something i generally never do when playing, however i'd been running so good the past week i decided to just have fun, after all it was friday) so i may be forgetting something.

if any of you have any questions i'd be happy to go into more detail. you can either respond in this thread or PM me.

-RBK

ps. to the guy who said i looked like eric balfour, that is hilarious because i actually went to high school with his sister and no one ever made that comparision.
also he does play at the bike on occassion however he plays either the 100 or 200 capped games.