Brantford trip report (longish)
This might be a long one, but it'd been the longest time since I'd been to the B&M, so thought I'd share... There was a lot of hands, since this was a fairly big 13hr session for me (considering I had to wait like 3 hrs for a table, I figured I better get a decent amount of hands in), I'll try to pick out the interesting/amusing ones, and some hands may be slightly off, as I'm only going on memory...
The setting:
BCC, on Friday afternoon (New Year's Eve Eve). I get there around 3ish in the afternoon, hoping to avoid any ridiculous waits. I ask how long to get a seat for a 5-10 game... The response "Seriously? I have no idea. Awhile." Great. Good start. After chilling out for a half hour to 45 minutes watching hockey/football over a beer I quickly begin to get bored. Time to play some blackjack I guess to kill some time.
WARNING: If you don't play blackjack, or find the thought of playing a game with a house advantage disturbing, just skip over next section.
Anyways, I figure $5 blackjack should be as reasonably a safe bet of not squandering vast amounts of cash while waiiting for a seat. I sit with $100 bucks. Quickly it becomes evident that I'm in blackjack donkeyville. One player in particular has this knack of hitting every time he should stand and standing every time he should hit. I wanted to give him the George Costanza advice of doing everything the opposite of what seems natural, I think it'd have worked wonders for the guy. Hit 12 vs a dealer 6? Why not. Hit 16 vs. a dealer 10? Nah. Double 11 vs. a dealer 5? Nah. Hit 12 vs. dealer 10? OK, now you have 15, so of course you want to stand on that monster. It was getting fairly comical, that this old asian guy on my right started ribbing the guy. You'd see the dilemma when he has a 13 vs. a dealer 5 and Asian is yelling at him "NO HIT"!! Of course guy hits and the next guy gets pissed at the Asian dude (I think he thought he said "HIT") because donkey "steals" the guys 10 that would have given him 21 on his double. Too comical... Anyways, peaked around up 45-50, but finished down about 20. Well worth the price of admission I figure killing 1.5 hrs or so.
Anyways, back to poker. I get seated at a typical donkey LPP 5-10 table probably around 6pm. Avging 5-7 to the fop, rarely raised. First hand in BB I get dealt AQh and raise with 6 limpers, and take down a decent pot on a Q high flop. Always nice to get that first pot in quickly. This hand basically set the tone for the entire session. Raising big aces, hitting flops, getting paid (for the most part). As far as big pairs went, my AA got cracked by 82 (not sure if suited or not) by a guy that obviously wasn't folding his BB vs. my obvious steal attempt. Story short, he flops 2 pair and I lose a bit on that one. I don't think I should have raised the turn given the flop was capped headsup, but this guy also had the tendency to overplay top-pair type hands. My other big pair (KK) folded the turn in a smaller pot. I raised in MP and both blinds called. Flop was an ugly AJ6 all diamonds (I didn't have the Kd either). I bet flop, and BB called. Turn was another J and BB donked into me. I folded, figuring I have 2 outs vs any A, any 2 diamonds, any J. The pot was small, best I could hope for was that the guy was semibluffing a gutshot/diamond draw with something like KQ or QT.
OK, enough about crying over busted aces, onto the more interesting (ie. junkier) hands. Let's start with the bad:
UTG raises (loose raising standards, I've seen him raise small pairs in that spot). Followed by 3 or 4 cold calls, SB calls, I'm in BB with TT with 6 people already having called 2 bets. I flat call. I think I "probably" should have went ahead and 3 bet here for value. I know I in general will 3 bet with TT when I can face others with calling 3 bets, cold, but obviously here, my raise is only building the pot and won't thin the field. I know I raise with JJ here, and probably only call with 99 or 88, but TT seems pretty borderline. Thoughts?
Flop: K86 with 2 diamonds (I think).
Marginal flop, decent that there's only one overcard, but with 5 to act after me, I check to see the action. UTG bets followed by 3 calls. Ugh. These idiots will always peel any flop with one overcard, a backdoor flush draw, etc. Folding seems weak in a pot this big, but what do you guys do here? Against this big a field, it seems likely at least one of them should have a K. If my hand somehow is good, I need to get rid of people in this hand, and I can't do that with a check-raise. Should I have just bet out? In short, I folded here, and result ended up that some guy hit a 9 on the turn with his J9o to win the pot. Needless to say I wasn't too impressed with his play (or mine).
Later on in the session... (I haven't decided whether my play here is brilliant, or utterly retarded)
Table has been going a little insane lately, more raising preflop, and some of the raises and reraises I think are a little tilt induced, since some hands have been run down lately by utter crap.
Anyways action goes like this: UTG raises, 2-3 cold calls, CO 3 bets (I think this is tilt induced, he got JJ run down by 64o or similar in previous hand), and then his buddy on the button (a bit of an action junkie) caps it. I'm in BB and have 99. I figure I'm getting either 21 or 25:3 (depending on if 2 or 3 cold callers), so probably somewhere around 8:1 so figure I can call with the implied odds of hitting my set. Anyone fold this for 3 bets cold?
Flop: JJ3 rainbow.
I check (again I think I should have bet). UTG bets, followed by 2 or 3 calls. Having learned my lesson (hopefully) from the TT hand previously, I'm not folding here for one lousy small bet on a decent flop with a monster pot. I call (slightly wary that someone might be slowplaying trip jacks).
Turn: 2s (putting a spade flush draw on board)
I check the turn and it's checked around behind me! I'm now cursing the fact I gave a free card in a monster pot and the fact that the turn put 2 spades on board to boot. I think I'm likely ahead, and am praying for a safe looking river card.
River: 5d
I bet out, UTG calls, CO (pf 3 bettor) calls.
UTG has 66, CO has an unimproved AQ and MHIG. I played WAY too passively post-flop and was extremely lucky to win this pot.
THE POT of the night:
Let me sum up this pot by saying "Stupid, stupid, stupid". Never listen to the other players who get involved in hands you're playing. Ever. And never assume that just because somebody says something that they truly understand what they're saying. This is the B&M people! It's full of the donks you see playing the .01-.02 tables online! Anyways, now that I'm done venting...onto the hand.
I'm on button and there's 5 limpers in ahead of me. I have 97 spades and limp. Both blinds come along. 8 to the flop.
Flop: Q65 with 2 spades. Flush draw with a gutshot, I like it. Little old lady in EP bets out. She tends to play aggressively post-flop with draws, but generally only raises pf with monsters. She plays a lot of junk hands like A-rag too, so in general, tough to categorize. She bets, followed by 3 calls, I raise for value, she 3 bets, all 3 cold-call 2 more, I cap for value, everyone calls.
Turn: 8d Bingo! I hit my gutshot and have the nuts. Little old lady bets out again, and says to me in a confrontational tone "Cap it again!". Guy in between calls, and I happily raise, lady 3 bets, and the moron in between caps, I call, lady calls. I'm hoping the guy in the middle drops on the river so it's not capped.
River: offsuit rag (3h?) This card changes nothing. Lady bets again, guy in between calls, I raise, lady 3 bets, MP stares at board forever and folds, I raise to 40. Lady goes 50, I go 60, she goes 70, I go 80 (I can't remember exact number of bets) Somewhere around 70-80 some kid across the table says "If you guys both have the same hands just call" I'm thinking to myself "Duh, how am I supposed to know if this woman's a donkey or not?" Lady raises again saying "I have the nut straight", I reraise again saying "Really?". She reraises saying that she has the nut straight. I reraise, saying "So you have 97 then?". And to my utter horror I slowly see the wheels turning in her eyes as she says "I call", showing 74 for the ragged end of the straight. Me and my big @#$ing mouth. Kid that then mentioned that we should just call if we had the same hands says, "Oops, ya you should have kept going..." Gee, ya think buddy? Moral of story, if it takes 2 hours, keep raising with the nuts if only to piss off the rest of the table. I wonder how many bets I cost myself here, since both of us had monster stacks at that point and the raising could have went on awhile...
Another junk hand: Again on the button, 5-6 limpers in ahead of me, I limp along with 64 spades (I'm a sucker for suited one-gaps, but this is about as low as I'll go).
Flop: J54 with one spade. There's a bet in EP and 4 calls in front of me, with only one of the blinds left to act behind me (who already checked). I figure the chance of the C/R is low, and I'm getting 12-13:1 with my bottom pair, backdoor straight and backdoor flush draws, I figure pretty easy to peel one here given the good odds.
Turn: As Bet and a call ahead of me, I call, one of the blinds calls behind.
River: 4 Same bettor bets out, one fold, and I raise, guy behind me folds. Guy shakes his head and calls (I figure it's tough for him to put me on a 4 given my tighter image) and to my suprise he shows AQ. Guy could have saved himself a little grief by raising that preflop...
Another big pot that baffled me a bit: 5 limpers in ahead of me, I'm on button with 88 and call (I don't see much point raising here with a mid pair, with less people in the pot I might, or possibly on the CO to pick up the button). Blinds call.
Flop: 852 with 2 spades. EP bets, 2 calls, a raise, I 3 bet, bettor cold calls 2, caller cold calls 2, next caller caps, raiser calls 2, I call. (5 way capped flop with top set, how great is that?) I'm scratching my head on the limp-cap, I figure it's either a big hand like 2 pair or a set that decided to pass up slowplaying given the action, or a flush draw raising for value. The guy seems fairly passive, so I'm hoping for the underset.
Turn: Ks Ugh, flush hits, Limp-capper bets out, next guy folds, I raise not wanting to have a give a cheap one card flush draw a good price to come along, and still wondering if my hand might still be best. EP cold calls 2, limp capper just calls. I know think I'm likely good.
River: offsuit rag. Checked around to me, I bet. Both call. EP has J8 for a pair of 8's (no spades either), other guy has the 2nd nut flush with Q3s. I was a little shocked at the flush not 3 betting turn, but either the guy is weak, or my constant raising of draws had the guy worried I was on the nut flush draw. Guess I got lucky I didn't lose more on this one...
The next couple hands happened during the same orbit, and the one guy seemed to tilt fairly easily and was obviously annoyed as he kept commenting about how I kept "sucking out" on him.
First hand: I'm in MP with JTh with 2 limpers ahead of me, and I limp. Blinds and possibly one other limp along so 5-6 to the flop.
Flop KhQh x Villain that tilts bets, one fold, I raise, both fold behind and villain calls. I know my hand is favoured here, but does anyone just call here given the strength of the draw (ie to induce overcalls behind)?
Turn: Kc Villain checks. I consider betting since it seems unlikely villian has a K with 2 on board, and I might be able to take the pot here. Of course if he does have a K I'm getting check-raised, and if he has a Q he might think it less likely that I have the K. I take the conservative route, and take the free card.
River: 3h Villain checks, I bet my flush and he calls with his Q-rag, bitching about my suckout. Obviously I didn't bother to educate him that I was ahead on the flop.
Couple hands later, a very similar hand takes place. I'm in LP, with J9h. 3 limpers ahead of me, I limp, blinds call, 6 to flop.
Flop: AJ6 with 2 hearts. Villain bets out in EP, followed by 2 calls, I raise for value, all 3 call.
Turn: 3c Checked to me, and I take the free card.
River: 9s Checked to me, I bet my 2 pair, villain and another call with a ragged ace and MHIG. Again I hear villain muttering under his breath...
Anyways, later in night villain and I get into a pot. I think the guy's watched a little too much poker on TV and I've seen him make a few crazy bluff attempts trying to move people off obviously strong hands.
I'm in EP and there's one limper in ahead of me. I have A9h and limp along (questionable maybe but given how loose/passive the table tends to be I'm not too worried). In hindsight, I should probably be raising that for value. Anyways, 3 callers behind including villain. 6 to flop.
Flop: A66 rainbow. Checked to me, I bet. Folded to villain who raises. Folded back to me. Given it's a limped pot, I can't really rule out a 6, although I probably should have assumed this guy would slow play one. My kicker's not that great, but figure it's well above average in a limped pot. I consider 3 betting, but decide to just call.
Turn: 6 Seems pretty unlikely now that villain has the case 6 for quads, but the only other hand he's likely to have raised would be an A in which case we just chop. I don't see much value in betting and check. Villain bets, I call.
River: 3h I'm pretty sure I'm good, but if I bet there's a slim chance I'm getting raised by the quads, and probably by an ace so I have to call the raise. If the guy's on a complete bluff I should check here right? I check, villain bets. Maybe I should have put in a raise here on the off chance he has a pocket pair and will pay it off, but I figure I'm chopping most of the time here vs. the A and on occaision I lose to the 6. I call and villain announces "8 high". I show my ace, chuckle, and just shake my head.
In hindsight maybe I should have just raised the turn or river anyways, since on occaision the maniac bluffers might actually reraise me there on a bluff anyways. Thoughts? Just calling both the turn and river with the boat seems pretty passive (albeit it might have been the right line given villain's hand).
In between hands I managed to see the most impressive "chip architect" I've seen in awhile. The next table over there was this guy that by my rough estimate had at least 4k in a 20-40 game, all in reds. His stack was constantly changing from towers, to this crazy giant triangle 9 rows of 100's in 5's then 8, then 7... Then this pyramid that had a smaller base but about 3x the height of the triangle (in 3 distinct levels). All in all, pretty insane.
In the spirit of results oriented poker, it was a good session. Up 950 over 13 hrs of 5-10. By far biggest session I've had at Brantford. As far as my play: Missed some value bets here and there, and didn't protect my hand appropriately in a few pots (the missed turn bet in that 99 hands sticks out). And the bad fold in the TT hand. Far from perfect poker. That being said (and maybe this is just typical results oriented thought skewing), if I ever consider myself to be outmatched at a 5-10 game by ANY player at the table, I think I'll be in the twilight zone. Man I love the B&M!
The setting:
BCC, on Friday afternoon (New Year's Eve Eve). I get there around 3ish in the afternoon, hoping to avoid any ridiculous waits. I ask how long to get a seat for a 5-10 game... The response "Seriously? I have no idea. Awhile." Great. Good start. After chilling out for a half hour to 45 minutes watching hockey/football over a beer I quickly begin to get bored. Time to play some blackjack I guess to kill some time.
WARNING: If you don't play blackjack, or find the thought of playing a game with a house advantage disturbing, just skip over next section.
Anyways, I figure $5 blackjack should be as reasonably a safe bet of not squandering vast amounts of cash while waiiting for a seat. I sit with $100 bucks. Quickly it becomes evident that I'm in blackjack donkeyville. One player in particular has this knack of hitting every time he should stand and standing every time he should hit. I wanted to give him the George Costanza advice of doing everything the opposite of what seems natural, I think it'd have worked wonders for the guy. Hit 12 vs a dealer 6? Why not. Hit 16 vs. a dealer 10? Nah. Double 11 vs. a dealer 5? Nah. Hit 12 vs. dealer 10? OK, now you have 15, so of course you want to stand on that monster. It was getting fairly comical, that this old asian guy on my right started ribbing the guy. You'd see the dilemma when he has a 13 vs. a dealer 5 and Asian is yelling at him "NO HIT"!! Of course guy hits and the next guy gets pissed at the Asian dude (I think he thought he said "HIT") because donkey "steals" the guys 10 that would have given him 21 on his double. Too comical... Anyways, peaked around up 45-50, but finished down about 20. Well worth the price of admission I figure killing 1.5 hrs or so.
Anyways, back to poker. I get seated at a typical donkey LPP 5-10 table probably around 6pm. Avging 5-7 to the fop, rarely raised. First hand in BB I get dealt AQh and raise with 6 limpers, and take down a decent pot on a Q high flop. Always nice to get that first pot in quickly. This hand basically set the tone for the entire session. Raising big aces, hitting flops, getting paid (for the most part). As far as big pairs went, my AA got cracked by 82 (not sure if suited or not) by a guy that obviously wasn't folding his BB vs. my obvious steal attempt. Story short, he flops 2 pair and I lose a bit on that one. I don't think I should have raised the turn given the flop was capped headsup, but this guy also had the tendency to overplay top-pair type hands. My other big pair (KK) folded the turn in a smaller pot. I raised in MP and both blinds called. Flop was an ugly AJ6 all diamonds (I didn't have the Kd either). I bet flop, and BB called. Turn was another J and BB donked into me. I folded, figuring I have 2 outs vs any A, any 2 diamonds, any J. The pot was small, best I could hope for was that the guy was semibluffing a gutshot/diamond draw with something like KQ or QT.
OK, enough about crying over busted aces, onto the more interesting (ie. junkier) hands. Let's start with the bad:
UTG raises (loose raising standards, I've seen him raise small pairs in that spot). Followed by 3 or 4 cold calls, SB calls, I'm in BB with TT with 6 people already having called 2 bets. I flat call. I think I "probably" should have went ahead and 3 bet here for value. I know I in general will 3 bet with TT when I can face others with calling 3 bets, cold, but obviously here, my raise is only building the pot and won't thin the field. I know I raise with JJ here, and probably only call with 99 or 88, but TT seems pretty borderline. Thoughts?
Flop: K86 with 2 diamonds (I think).
Marginal flop, decent that there's only one overcard, but with 5 to act after me, I check to see the action. UTG bets followed by 3 calls. Ugh. These idiots will always peel any flop with one overcard, a backdoor flush draw, etc. Folding seems weak in a pot this big, but what do you guys do here? Against this big a field, it seems likely at least one of them should have a K. If my hand somehow is good, I need to get rid of people in this hand, and I can't do that with a check-raise. Should I have just bet out? In short, I folded here, and result ended up that some guy hit a 9 on the turn with his J9o to win the pot. Needless to say I wasn't too impressed with his play (or mine).
Later on in the session... (I haven't decided whether my play here is brilliant, or utterly retarded)
Table has been going a little insane lately, more raising preflop, and some of the raises and reraises I think are a little tilt induced, since some hands have been run down lately by utter crap.
Anyways action goes like this: UTG raises, 2-3 cold calls, CO 3 bets (I think this is tilt induced, he got JJ run down by 64o or similar in previous hand), and then his buddy on the button (a bit of an action junkie) caps it. I'm in BB and have 99. I figure I'm getting either 21 or 25:3 (depending on if 2 or 3 cold callers), so probably somewhere around 8:1 so figure I can call with the implied odds of hitting my set. Anyone fold this for 3 bets cold?
Flop: JJ3 rainbow.
I check (again I think I should have bet). UTG bets, followed by 2 or 3 calls. Having learned my lesson (hopefully) from the TT hand previously, I'm not folding here for one lousy small bet on a decent flop with a monster pot. I call (slightly wary that someone might be slowplaying trip jacks).
Turn: 2s (putting a spade flush draw on board)
I check the turn and it's checked around behind me! I'm now cursing the fact I gave a free card in a monster pot and the fact that the turn put 2 spades on board to boot. I think I'm likely ahead, and am praying for a safe looking river card.
River: 5d
I bet out, UTG calls, CO (pf 3 bettor) calls.
UTG has 66, CO has an unimproved AQ and MHIG. I played WAY too passively post-flop and was extremely lucky to win this pot.
THE POT of the night:
Let me sum up this pot by saying "Stupid, stupid, stupid". Never listen to the other players who get involved in hands you're playing. Ever. And never assume that just because somebody says something that they truly understand what they're saying. This is the B&M people! It's full of the donks you see playing the .01-.02 tables online! Anyways, now that I'm done venting...onto the hand.
I'm on button and there's 5 limpers in ahead of me. I have 97 spades and limp. Both blinds come along. 8 to the flop.
Flop: Q65 with 2 spades. Flush draw with a gutshot, I like it. Little old lady in EP bets out. She tends to play aggressively post-flop with draws, but generally only raises pf with monsters. She plays a lot of junk hands like A-rag too, so in general, tough to categorize. She bets, followed by 3 calls, I raise for value, she 3 bets, all 3 cold-call 2 more, I cap for value, everyone calls.
Turn: 8d Bingo! I hit my gutshot and have the nuts. Little old lady bets out again, and says to me in a confrontational tone "Cap it again!". Guy in between calls, and I happily raise, lady 3 bets, and the moron in between caps, I call, lady calls. I'm hoping the guy in the middle drops on the river so it's not capped.
River: offsuit rag (3h?) This card changes nothing. Lady bets again, guy in between calls, I raise, lady 3 bets, MP stares at board forever and folds, I raise to 40. Lady goes 50, I go 60, she goes 70, I go 80 (I can't remember exact number of bets) Somewhere around 70-80 some kid across the table says "If you guys both have the same hands just call" I'm thinking to myself "Duh, how am I supposed to know if this woman's a donkey or not?" Lady raises again saying "I have the nut straight", I reraise again saying "Really?". She reraises saying that she has the nut straight. I reraise, saying "So you have 97 then?". And to my utter horror I slowly see the wheels turning in her eyes as she says "I call", showing 74 for the ragged end of the straight. Me and my big @#$ing mouth. Kid that then mentioned that we should just call if we had the same hands says, "Oops, ya you should have kept going..." Gee, ya think buddy? Moral of story, if it takes 2 hours, keep raising with the nuts if only to piss off the rest of the table. I wonder how many bets I cost myself here, since both of us had monster stacks at that point and the raising could have went on awhile...
Another junk hand: Again on the button, 5-6 limpers in ahead of me, I limp along with 64 spades (I'm a sucker for suited one-gaps, but this is about as low as I'll go).
Flop: J54 with one spade. There's a bet in EP and 4 calls in front of me, with only one of the blinds left to act behind me (who already checked). I figure the chance of the C/R is low, and I'm getting 12-13:1 with my bottom pair, backdoor straight and backdoor flush draws, I figure pretty easy to peel one here given the good odds.
Turn: As Bet and a call ahead of me, I call, one of the blinds calls behind.
River: 4 Same bettor bets out, one fold, and I raise, guy behind me folds. Guy shakes his head and calls (I figure it's tough for him to put me on a 4 given my tighter image) and to my suprise he shows AQ. Guy could have saved himself a little grief by raising that preflop...
Another big pot that baffled me a bit: 5 limpers in ahead of me, I'm on button with 88 and call (I don't see much point raising here with a mid pair, with less people in the pot I might, or possibly on the CO to pick up the button). Blinds call.
Flop: 852 with 2 spades. EP bets, 2 calls, a raise, I 3 bet, bettor cold calls 2, caller cold calls 2, next caller caps, raiser calls 2, I call. (5 way capped flop with top set, how great is that?) I'm scratching my head on the limp-cap, I figure it's either a big hand like 2 pair or a set that decided to pass up slowplaying given the action, or a flush draw raising for value. The guy seems fairly passive, so I'm hoping for the underset.
Turn: Ks Ugh, flush hits, Limp-capper bets out, next guy folds, I raise not wanting to have a give a cheap one card flush draw a good price to come along, and still wondering if my hand might still be best. EP cold calls 2, limp capper just calls. I know think I'm likely good.
River: offsuit rag. Checked around to me, I bet. Both call. EP has J8 for a pair of 8's (no spades either), other guy has the 2nd nut flush with Q3s. I was a little shocked at the flush not 3 betting turn, but either the guy is weak, or my constant raising of draws had the guy worried I was on the nut flush draw. Guess I got lucky I didn't lose more on this one...
The next couple hands happened during the same orbit, and the one guy seemed to tilt fairly easily and was obviously annoyed as he kept commenting about how I kept "sucking out" on him.
First hand: I'm in MP with JTh with 2 limpers ahead of me, and I limp. Blinds and possibly one other limp along so 5-6 to the flop.
Flop KhQh x Villain that tilts bets, one fold, I raise, both fold behind and villain calls. I know my hand is favoured here, but does anyone just call here given the strength of the draw (ie to induce overcalls behind)?
Turn: Kc Villain checks. I consider betting since it seems unlikely villian has a K with 2 on board, and I might be able to take the pot here. Of course if he does have a K I'm getting check-raised, and if he has a Q he might think it less likely that I have the K. I take the conservative route, and take the free card.
River: 3h Villain checks, I bet my flush and he calls with his Q-rag, bitching about my suckout. Obviously I didn't bother to educate him that I was ahead on the flop.
Couple hands later, a very similar hand takes place. I'm in LP, with J9h. 3 limpers ahead of me, I limp, blinds call, 6 to flop.
Flop: AJ6 with 2 hearts. Villain bets out in EP, followed by 2 calls, I raise for value, all 3 call.
Turn: 3c Checked to me, and I take the free card.
River: 9s Checked to me, I bet my 2 pair, villain and another call with a ragged ace and MHIG. Again I hear villain muttering under his breath...
Anyways, later in night villain and I get into a pot. I think the guy's watched a little too much poker on TV and I've seen him make a few crazy bluff attempts trying to move people off obviously strong hands.
I'm in EP and there's one limper in ahead of me. I have A9h and limp along (questionable maybe but given how loose/passive the table tends to be I'm not too worried). In hindsight, I should probably be raising that for value. Anyways, 3 callers behind including villain. 6 to flop.
Flop: A66 rainbow. Checked to me, I bet. Folded to villain who raises. Folded back to me. Given it's a limped pot, I can't really rule out a 6, although I probably should have assumed this guy would slow play one. My kicker's not that great, but figure it's well above average in a limped pot. I consider 3 betting, but decide to just call.
Turn: 6 Seems pretty unlikely now that villain has the case 6 for quads, but the only other hand he's likely to have raised would be an A in which case we just chop. I don't see much value in betting and check. Villain bets, I call.
River: 3h I'm pretty sure I'm good, but if I bet there's a slim chance I'm getting raised by the quads, and probably by an ace so I have to call the raise. If the guy's on a complete bluff I should check here right? I check, villain bets. Maybe I should have put in a raise here on the off chance he has a pocket pair and will pay it off, but I figure I'm chopping most of the time here vs. the A and on occaision I lose to the 6. I call and villain announces "8 high". I show my ace, chuckle, and just shake my head.
In hindsight maybe I should have just raised the turn or river anyways, since on occaision the maniac bluffers might actually reraise me there on a bluff anyways. Thoughts? Just calling both the turn and river with the boat seems pretty passive (albeit it might have been the right line given villain's hand).
In between hands I managed to see the most impressive "chip architect" I've seen in awhile. The next table over there was this guy that by my rough estimate had at least 4k in a 20-40 game, all in reds. His stack was constantly changing from towers, to this crazy giant triangle 9 rows of 100's in 5's then 8, then 7... Then this pyramid that had a smaller base but about 3x the height of the triangle (in 3 distinct levels). All in all, pretty insane.
In the spirit of results oriented poker, it was a good session. Up 950 over 13 hrs of 5-10. By far biggest session I've had at Brantford. As far as my play: Missed some value bets here and there, and didn't protect my hand appropriately in a few pots (the missed turn bet in that 99 hands sticks out). And the bad fold in the TT hand. Far from perfect poker. That being said (and maybe this is just typical results oriented thought skewing), if I ever consider myself to be outmatched at a 5-10 game by ANY player at the table, I think I'll be in the twilight zone. Man I love the B&M!
Comments
These BJ players make me homicidal at the table.. As if they're counting the 8 deck constantly shuffling shoe or something..
yeah that junky TT, its only like the tenth best starting hand, what garbage
Your opponents gave you a lot. Checking it through basically told you YHIG but thats information you can't get if you bet.
You dont have any way of protecting your hand anyway. 13 to 1, the overcards are calling.
I hope that the dealer told him to shut up. Always go to the felt with the nuts.
No way. Theres no way you can price out the flush draw on the turn in a 6 way capped flop. It's straight up value.
The side effect of an aggressive game, you cause your passive opponents to turtle early so they never extract maximum value.
Whoops, ya, I meant the suited one gap hands. (specifically the 64s and the 97s).
Fair enough. Still not happy giving a free one though (but hindsight is 20:20)
A non-nut flush draw? Suppose some donk is in there with middle pair and a 9 high one card flush draw? Guarantee they'll peel for one bet, but 2 might make them think about it? Then again they just called 4 bets with the same crap on the flop, so what do I know... Ya, you might be right.
I was thinking about this... You wouldnt want to raise just to raise out the single card flush draws because you'd land up only folding out low spades while keeping the high ones.. so you'd lose the value contributed by thier domination.. I'm just talking theoretically not about how you actually played it..
Edit: Like I'm talking VERY theoretically. if you had odds to draw to a flush on the flop, the single card draw would almost always have odds to draw the turn unless the pot was microscopic.
There was indeed a guy at table #5 with a huge stack of chips. He left with 10 racks which is of course 5 grand.
Did u have a blond haired lady (mid 50's) at your table wearing an all pink outfit? Or a mediterranean looking guy with a huge nest of hair who like to talk a good game. (He bought in a couple times and busted out.)
P.S. I was having a great $10 -$20 session and stupidly switched to $5-$10 and lost all focus. I was in seat #2 or 3 and definitely on tilt. There was one guy in seat #6 (I think) who was playing real well and had around $900 in chips when I left. If that was you then kudos on your play.
That was indeed my table. The lady in pink was the one I got into the monster raising war headsup on the end. I think I was in seat 5 or 6, so that was probably me with the monster stack. Trying to remember which guy you were as there was a constant stream of new players in those seats as the night went on. 10 till 3 eh? I vaguely remember there was a guy that sat (I think in seat 2) with quite a few chips (600-800 range I think) that had been playing 10-20 (I think). You weren't the guy with the Q high flush that beat my set were you? Anyways, always good to meet a forum member, even if I'm still not 100% sure which guy you were...
Do you remember the guy who had the huge nest of curly hair? He only played for about an hour and busted out. Everytime he plays he calls people fishes & comments on people's decisions. The dealer (an old guy who looks like Principal Skinner) actually stated that he was glad the player lost and left the table.
It's funny because my buddy at table #11 noticed that my big stack was dwindling. He asked me what was going on because I had 6 winning sessions in a row and had been playing really well. I told him that I wasn't being patient and that I should be playing my game the way (I pointed to you) were playing.
I am glad you made a nice profit. I find that the $5-$10 game is very profitable as well. I had 7 winning sessions (10 of last 14) in a row until Monday. My wife was extremely pleased as she took 1/2 my bankroll to spend on all our christmas presents.
Oh ya, I remember that guy. I've seen him a couple times there. He tends to get pretty miserable with everybody when the cards aren't going his way.
6 sessions in a row is huge! Seriously though, I just try to focus on playing solidly and (hopefully) have some fun. B&M for me is more for the social interection than anything. If I was lazy and didn't want the 45 min drive I could easily just play online at home. I expect to be better than the typical player at the table (in the casino), but I also expect some crazy swings live since 6 avg to the flop will tend to do that. I've had live sessions where I've gone down 300-400 to start and then finished a few hundred in the black. The swings are utterly insane live.
Ouch. Merry Christmas!
Btw nooner, do you notice a big difference between the 5-10 and 10-20 games at Brantford? Personally, I know I don't have the BR to be playing 10-20 (not quite anyways), but knowing how soft the 5-10 game is, I can't imagine the 10-20 is THAT big of a jump (but I have yet to sit at the 10-20).
#1. The pct. of players who see the flop is lower.
#2. The players are more aggressive pre-flop.
Once I build my bankroll to $6000 I will play exclusively 10-20.