One final live poker session for 2007 at Ameristar. I started by winning about $200 in the NL cash games after floundering on the $15-$30 limit table for about a half hour while I waited for my NL seat.
I made to the fourth level of the tournament with a decent sized stack. I picked up AA UTG at the 100-200 level, raised to 500 and the SB called. The flop came K-Q-J with two hearts. SB immediately pushed and just had me covered. Two thoughts quickly went through my head: “There is absolutely no hand that he would push with on this flop that I could beat. I kinda don’t care because I think the cash games are going to be more lucrative for me tonight.” Just one of those feelings, but maybe it was my own way of rationalizing a martyr call with AA. So against my better judgment I called, and he tables T-9 for the lower straight.
Back to the NL game. First hand I get AA, raise to $20 UTG+1 and one guy calls to my immediate left. He is there just about every time that I’ve ever played at Ameristar. He’s the guy that’s always looking around the room, calling out loudly to other players across the room and talking with all the dealers like they’re best buds. There’s one of these guys (and usually more than one) in every poker room.
The flop is 9-8-6 rainbow. I lead out for $25 and he raises to $75. I ask him, “Really?” He kinda nods and shrugs, like “Yeah, I like that flop.” My instinct is to raise him, make it $200 total. But then I don’t like the idea of building a huge pot with one pair this early, so I just call. I’m having trouble putting him on a hand, and he’s an experienced and somewhat tricky player. The turn is (9-8-6)-3. I check with the intention of raising if he bets. But he checks.
The river is (9-8-6-3)-7. I bet $110, and he calls with A-5 for the straight that made it on the river. His raise on the flop was what, just goofing with me? And my instinct was dead on – I could have easily blasted him out of the hand. We discussed the hand as the play went on, and he admitted that even a min-raise back at him on the flop would have made him fold.
So, now I’ve had AA cracked in back-to-back hands, once in a tournament and once in a cash game. A new record for me, on two counts. I resolve to trust my instincts more, since my instinct in both AA hands was accurate.
The rest of the session went great. A few hands after the second AA hand, I was faced with an all in bet on the turn with AJ on a board of A-K-8-J. The pot was about $150 and the bet was about the same. I had tangled with this dude before several times. I could not put him on AK or 88 based on the way he played the hand, so I called. I heard the always wonderful “Good call” as I slid my chips forward, and he mucked before the river and before I even showed my hand.
I won a few more very large pots and built up a nice stack:
I made to the fourth level of the tournament with a decent sized stack. I picked up AA UTG at the 100-200 level, raised to 500 and the SB called. The flop came K-Q-J with two hearts. SB immediately pushed and just had me covered. Two thoughts quickly went through my head: “There is absolutely no hand that he would push with on this flop that I could beat. I kinda don’t care because I think the cash games are going to be more lucrative for me tonight.” Just one of those feelings, but maybe it was my own way of rationalizing a martyr call with AA. So against my better judgment I called, and he tables T-9 for the lower straight.
Back to the NL game. First hand I get AA, raise to $20 UTG+1 and one guy calls to my immediate left. He is there just about every time that I’ve ever played at Ameristar. He’s the guy that’s always looking around the room, calling out loudly to other players across the room and talking with all the dealers like they’re best buds. There’s one of these guys (and usually more than one) in every poker room.
The flop is 9-8-6 rainbow. I lead out for $25 and he raises to $75. I ask him, “Really?” He kinda nods and shrugs, like “Yeah, I like that flop.” My instinct is to raise him, make it $200 total. But then I don’t like the idea of building a huge pot with one pair this early, so I just call. I’m having trouble putting him on a hand, and he’s an experienced and somewhat tricky player. The turn is (9-8-6)-3. I check with the intention of raising if he bets. But he checks.
The river is (9-8-6-3)-7. I bet $110, and he calls with A-5 for the straight that made it on the river. His raise on the flop was what, just goofing with me? And my instinct was dead on – I could have easily blasted him out of the hand. We discussed the hand as the play went on, and he admitted that even a min-raise back at him on the flop would have made him fold.
So, now I’ve had AA cracked in back-to-back hands, once in a tournament and once in a cash game. A new record for me, on two counts. I resolve to trust my instincts more, since my instinct in both AA hands was accurate.
The rest of the session went great. A few hands after the second AA hand, I was faced with an all in bet on the turn with AJ on a board of A-K-8-J. The pot was about $150 and the bet was about the same. I had tangled with this dude before several times. I could not put him on AK or 88 based on the way he played the hand, so I called. I heard the always wonderful “Good call” as I slid my chips forward, and he mucked before the river and before I even showed my hand.
I won a few more very large pots and built up a nice stack:
I always laugh inside when I can build up a $1500 stack in a $1-2-5 NL game ($1-2 blinds, $5 to call). I can play this game completely wide open, and bully the $200-$300 stacks, while at the same time usually avoiding significant trouble because I know that plenty of opportunities will inevitably come along. They always do in this game. A good way to end the year. I remain very confident in my live game, but I remain unable to make any headway with on-line play. I have become very reliant on my live reads, which I don’t think is a bad thing at all, but I have completely lost my feel for on-line play.
