2nd session at Melbourne Crown casino

My 2nd session at Crown Casino $2/5 NL Hold em cash game table was my last.  Entering the casino floor, there was a tournament on but I timed it just right – they were opening up the cash tables a few minutes after I arrived.  Sat at a $2/3 NL table but wanted out of there quickly as there were two women playing…I just don’t have any experience reading women and inevitably label them as tight players…so it’s hard to detect any kind of bluff.  The $2/5 table had some tough players at it….2 of them from the previous session I played.  There was a loose player who seemed to make steal plays here and there as well as legitimate plays.  He was definitely in tournament mode and was kicked out quickly…a big mistake he made was sitting down with $200 when everyone else had $500+.  He had top 2 pair and went all in for just under $200 with the river to go….sadly this wasn’t a big enough bet to drive players out and the big stacker called on a flush draw…and hit.  If he bet $500 I doubt anyone would have called.  Didn’t get very good cards – best cards were 44 (twice), 77, AQ suited and AJ offsuit.  With my AJ I called a $40 bet to the ‘harry potter’ guy, only because we were heads up.  Any more players, I would have folded.  The flop comes J/10/6.  I just couldn’t see him betting so much on J10 so put him on AK, over-pair or trips.  My action, I bet $50 to see where I was at.  He called.  Alarm bells ran, maybe trips.  So I checked 4th st blank card.  This then created the illusion I was just betting the flop to steal.  He checked also.  Then the river came, another blank.    I wasn’t sure if he had trips, or overpair….so I checked the river.  He then bet $100.  I thought about it and quickly called….top pair with ace kicker is hard to get away from.  He had JQ.  I think he was really surprised I had AJ…I played that one really tricky.  Ended up -$44 on the session after 2 hours, I kept my nose out of trouble and go cold carded…didn’t get into any big traps so was grateful of that.

Poker in Melbourne, Crown Casino

As it turns out the Crown casino is bolted onto our hotel, Crown Promenade.

You can take the lift from your hotel, then down a short air bridge and further downstairs within the casino to the ‘Las Vegas’ room.

There are many tables, with lots of donks at the lower $60 buy-in tables.  I went straight for the $2/$5 $200-$500 no limit Hold em table.

 I intended to start with $250…..but when I sat down I noticed all the stacks were $500-$1000.  So I quickly bought in for more at $600.

The main aggresor at the table had $1K, but soon got his ass bit to $200 within an hour.

I mostly played the cards, got away from some nasty situations and basically played well during the session.  My stack went from $600 to $475 at the lowest point (where I pushed all in with AQ and the board was A93)  back up to $716 when I left.

Best play was when everyone checked at the river and I was last to act….there was a potential flush out there with 3 diamonds on the board, $100 in the pot.  I bet $100, everyone folded.  I showed my bluff lol, the table went ‘whoa’.

I only showed as I was leaving soon, therefore geared back into ‘only the nuts I shall play’ mode. 

Some error on the dealer happened when someone bet $30 and I threw $100 in, he took it as a call.  It was in fact a raise.  So after that I had to state ‘raise’. 

My stance was pretty much tight, but playing a few hands and limping a bit to say I’m not super tight.  I made good lay downs – got away from a straight which was beat with a higher straight then in turn beat by a full house.  Also had a Q and the board had a Q, somebody bet and I folded as my kicker was a 5, the guy showed the other two QQ.

A good session and I was more impressed I could play with the better poker players. My bluff worked once, the other time it didn’t and I got out quick.  I just made a text book raise from the dealer button.  Did play some funky stuff like 95 offsuit just to mix it up and flopped an open ended straight, sadly didn’t make it otherwise very unsuspecting hand.

I just might go back before my stay of Melbourne expires….

Asia tour…no poker

As I’m on my Asia tour, I didn’t make Monday night poker.  However, I spoke in MSN with the Shugster and it turns out Bingo was playing crazy.  Shugster moved all in with 10/10 and Bingo called – with J9.  Of course, Bingo flopped 2-pair and proceeded to win the Monday night even….just ridiculous.  Luckster Gary was out before the freezeout.  Definitely Gary + Bingo the crazy lucky ones – they either bulldoze all night or get bombed out early for 10 straight sessions.  True donks.

Monday night game…..

9 players, the usual $20 buy in with 45 minutes of rebuy time.

Made sure the cards got dealt quickly without any lag.

Played kinda loose-ish during the rebuy but not too crazy.  These guys don’t give me credit for my raises a lot of the time.

Managed to move into the freezeout with around 4200 in chips inc. add on.

At this juncture I had to approach with caution.

Luckster Gary was out quickly, Bingo didn’t appear so the action wouldn’t be quite as loose.

It’s all much of a blur after that, I made sure I folded when I thought I might be beat, rather than ‘defo beat’.  I did lay down the winning hand at least once during the night but that’s a good sign.

Ended up 3 handed – myself, Ross and Arthur.  Arthur and Ross the most chips, me the short stack.  Low stacked, I was forced into playing A4 off suit as Ross moved in….I was pot committed at this point and also I knew if I folded, Ross would still be in the game keeping me out of the money.  If I took Ross out, I moved into 2nd and the payout structure.  I figured, if I fold, I’m fecked anyway as I have few chips.  If I call and win, I don’t just get chips, I move into the money.  So I went for it, hoping he had K10 or something.

Ross showed AJ suited.  I was in big trouble.

But as luck would have it, a 2-3-5 appeared on the board and I made a straight on the river.  Nice bit of luck for a change, I’ve lost twice all-in with AA before at this tournament so I guess it compensates lol.

Made a few more all in gestures but Arthur didn’t bite during heads up.  Arthur is a cautious player, he did not call some big cards I had like AK etc.

In the end I whittled Arthur’s chips away with the enormous 3000 blinds.  I could see he was now desperate, had enough for 2 blinds, half of which was already in the table.  He moved all in, I called with a rubbish Q9 but any two cards might work in this situation.

Arthur turned over 93 suited.  I was dominating.

The board was 5 blank cards basically and my Queen-high took the pot and price of $270.  Not bad for $40 buy in.

Two things  I did differently this week were folding my hand when the only other option was to re-raise all in.  I didn’t push any crazy bluffs like that.  My bluffs were tight, about the size of the blinds during the freezeout.  That was enough to push out any weak hands 3-handed.

The other thing I did was employ survival tactics.  Sure if my stack is dwindling I need to make a move quickly.  But if that move = lose.  Well, it’s pointless.  Better to double up with 3000 than move all in with 6000 and a riskier proposition.  Patience is the key, I don’t get too frightened when I’m short stack….as I proved this session.

One further point was I used the ‘call to improve’ strategy.  Sometimes I had 2nd best pair, a bet was placed, I called trying to improve.  The other player would then get cautious because I called and check 4th st.  That meant I could check and see the river for free too.  On one occasion myself and arthur both hit 444 on the River and we split the pot.  I also played every 2 cards mostly and threw away hardly anything, it paid off as I made 10/8 into a straight and taking a big pot from Ross.

I did catch some nice cards tonite…memorable hands include AK, AQ, QQ….and of course I hit my straight which was the turning point against Ross.  I also bet when I sensed some weakness.  That worked to a degree in small doses.  And I kept away from too many bluffs although I was all in a couple of times with nothing/not much….these times I sensed weakness and had a lot of chips in the pot already.

My Monday nite performance is not bad – from 12 games, I’ve finished in the money 6 times and won 3 times or 25%.  That’s beating the street for sure.  Some guys who play every week win it once a year.

17 runners, only 1 winner…

Local $10 rebuy tournament started on Sunday afternoon.

Typically 40 runners, we only had 17 this time.

Rebuy period lasted 90 mins – starting stack 2000 with blinds 100/200 during that period.

My table

Seat 1 – me

seat 2 – somebody who wanted to look tight and not play many hands, then make a move with nothing.  He did this invariably, poor play.

seat 3 – crap poker player, very easy to read but got lucky, hit AA three times. A bit of a gambler

Seat 4 – a total gambler.  Just crazy, going all the way with J6 etc.

Seat 5 – a bit of a donk, knew the game, but was very easy to read and had rotten luck with his gambles

Seat 6 – switched on player, the only one.  I had to worry about him.

Seat 7 – young kid, but really tight player, only played when 2-pair and even checked a straight

seat 8 – dealer…hard to read as he didn’t seem to care if he won or lost.

So anyway, during the rebuy, gambled wildly, won some, lost some.  This is what I normally do during a $10 rebuy to set my table image.

It did work – the switched on guy in seat 6 picked up on this and called me with two low diamonds when I had two higher diamonds.  He was chip leader at this point but I doubled up through him. 

He also slow played trip 3s, checking and calling all the time.  This foxed me as the general rule for check/call is when you’re unsure you have the nuts.  He gave me a few chances to improve my hand as a result.  At the end I checked, he bet 2000, I thought about going all in on top pair but was unsure wether he had trips so just called.  This might be seen as a bad move, but it sent the message to him not to bluff me and I would call on 2nd best hand/pair with low kicker…more psychology for the freezeout.

OK, so I had 2000 chips by the freezeout + 4000 top up = 6000.  The blinds were 400 so I had exactly x15 the blinds, the point at which you need to think about going all in.

I patiently waited and waited passing up KQ offsuit and 88 also.  I prefer just to call with these hands even if I’m short stacked.  This is because there were 3 big stack and the gambling attitude was infecting everyone. 

Anyway, my cards came, AK of hearts.  I only had 2800 in chips at this point, threw them in at early position.  Switched on player in seat 6 then moved all in, the next chip leader was still to act.  I could only assume he wanted to isolate me and him but it was a rather stupid/risky play if you ask me unless he had a big pair.

Anyway, the big chip stacker in seat 7 folded, so it was heads up with seat 6.

My cards – AK suited (74% fave)

His cards – K10 off suit (26% fave)

The flop came 639 rainbow

I now moved to 84% favourite.

Next card : 10

Aaaargh!

I now had a 6.84% chance to win and I didn’t.

That fecking sucked!  But hey, I played right.  I gambled during the rebuy, set a loose but good table image, then dug in tight in the freezeout and made my move with excellent cards. 

I just can’t do better than that…..lol.

I am in fact quite a tight player in general, defo when the stakes go up.  So this table image I portray is good for the big WSOP sattelite competiton where I will play relatively tight for the first half and cautiously for the 2nd half.

Total expenditure was $74 but it was good action in general.  I felt if I had pushed through with my AK of hearts, I could pick another spot and double up again.

All experience….no cards, no cash!

The Monday night game….9 players

Monday night game didn’t feel lucky.  But that’s not a problem as I have won it when not feeling lucky.

But tonite I felt pretty non-chalent about the whole thing….last time I played my Aces in the hole got beat.

This session even worse – I got cold carded during the rebuy period….best cards all night were A5 spades, K10 hearts, A7 off suit.  It didn’t help that it took 30 minutes for the dealer button to get round to me in the rebuy.  No opportunity to steal. 

 Rebuy ended at 45 minutes.

Found K10 hearts the best hand, called with it as I knew I needed to hit the flop to make it count.  I spiked a King on the flop with 3 players, and suspected no one had a king.  Move all in.  Both called.

Me – KK, 10 kicker

James – 333 trips

Ross – AJ offsuit…straight draw

Well, I was very behind.  I needed a king to beat James but it needn’t have matter as Ross spiked his straight draw on the river. 

I wondered wether I should have raised pre-flop all in, but I doubt it would have made any odds, Ross would have called and maybe James.

Payouts were $300 for 1st and $75 for 2nd place.  I ended up putting in $55 this session.  No idea who won, but it was down to Gary Luckster, D and Ross.  My money was on Ross.

Next week will be the finale as I have a break for a month on holiday….

UPDATE – Ross won

As I looked down on this page…

As I looked down on this page…it feels like a data charting device of my progress as a Texas Hold Em No Limit player.

I have no other interest in any other card game.

Maybe because this is the game that requires as much skill as luck.  A sense of perception deciding wether you double up or crash out.

My skills appear to lie in the perception department, although playing poker with monkeys throws me off my game – they look worried when they have the nuts, esp. the tight ones.  That confuses you, especially when 2nd best.

Many people describe Pot Limit as a science and No Limit as an art.  I’m definitely with them on that theory.

The update – I just wasted $50 on Titan and am putting that behind me in the joy of knowing they’ll be a live game tommorrow night.  $280 1st prize, 10 man tournament.  It’ll be good, but the structure is a turbo-style at the end.