Weekend Update

I played at the Nautica Charity Poker Festival on Friday night after work. My normal plan for Nautica is show up with $300, and I will play for about 3hrs. Because of the $15 seat fee at the top of the hour, I will "hit & run" if I'm up $200+ when the vultures come around.

This time, I lost the whole $300 in about 2hrs. The table was playing super loose, which is to be expected on a Friday night. I just didn't have many opportunities, or when I tried something, I would get called. I'm one of the few in our group that is a loser at Nautica. Poker is all about adjusting to the table, and I think I need to adjust my game more than just playing tighter.

Saturday Night was our usual home game in Lorain. We had 39 runners for the tournament, which is the 2nd largest we've had since we started back up in September. My tournament had the usual ups and downs, and I finished in 20th place,

The Cash Game went better for me. With the large crowd, we finally got the Mixed table going. It consisted of NLHE, PLO, and NL Crazy Pineapple. Unfortunately, I only got to play about 45 minutes at the Mixed table before it broke, and we all went back to the TV Poker (NLHE) tables. When the game finally broke for the night, I left Dave's basement about 5:30am up $218 in the Cash game.

Hand #1 - Tournament Level 3 75/150
Two limpers, then Bill D raises to 1200. Ryan calls in the CutOff. I'm the Button, and I look down at AA. I decide to just call. (I'll explain later.) Both blinds fold, but the UTG limper calls. Four players see a flop of T 4 2. Everyone checks to me, and I shove for 2900. UTG folds. Bill D thinks for a moment, and then folds. Ryan thinks for a while, counts his large chip stack, and reluctantly calls with 54s. Turn card is [T 4 2] 3 to give Ryan an opened-ender. But I've got two A, and I fairly sure that Bill D folded AK. River is [T 4 2 3] 6, and Ryan wins a pot of 10975 with the backdoor straight. I rebuy using my 3000 AddOn.

There were a few reasons that I just called, rather then doing the obvious All-In. First is that my image of Bill D is very tight & passive. If I shove there, I think he may fold AQ, AK, JJ, QQ or maybe even KK, because he thinks I'm a tight player. Next reason is, as the TD, I get to handle all the late buy-ins, which there were many on Saturday. So I have played very few pots, and have essentially blinded off to this point. Since the structure of this tournament is not on the deeper side, I have the opportunity to play a big pot with AA, and I'm gonna take it. And considering that I was only one card away from almost tripling up, I'm happy with my decision. It just didn't go as planned. That's poker.

Hand #2 - $1/$1 NLHE
I had not been sitting at the Cash table for long, and decided to do my first preflop raise to $3 with 56h in late position. The BB, Dave M, called along with one other player. Flop was 8h 4h 3c. That's a wonderful board for someone who raised with a suited connector, because I can represent an overpair. Dave leads out for $6, the other player folds, and I raise to $20. Dave thinks for moment, and calls.

Turn [8h 4h 3c] Qh. Dave checks, and I bet $25 with my flush. He tanks for a long time, and finally pushes 5 red chips forward, leaving just $27 behind. River [8h 4h 3c Qh] 9h. Dave insta-shoves his remaining $27 in to the pot of around $105. I make the crying call, and he turns over Ah 8c. Top/Top on the Flop, and then Rivered the nut Flush.

I think I underbet the Turn, but I doubt it would have mattered. Being a home game, we've all played a lot of hands together. I think Dave M would have called anything that I bet on the Turn, including an All-In. Also, maybe I could have not made the crying call. At what point do you have to make the call, even though you know you're crushed?

Hand #3 - $1/$1 PLO
We're playing either 5 or 6 handed at the Mixed table, and we're in the PLO round. I'm in mid position with As Ah 7c 5h and I just limp. Our PLO game is usually rather tame preflop, with lotsa limping. Everyone limps in, and the BB, Hip Hop, raises to $6. Two players call, and I decide to squeeze for $25. I know this sort of turns my cards face up, bet I feel there's enough in the pot to go for it. Only Hip calls.

Flop is 7 3 2 rainbow. Hip leads out of $50. If I call, I've only got $54 left, so this is either an All-In or fold. I think for about 2-3 minutes, and say, "All right. Let's go." All-In for $104. He calls. Turn [7 3 2] 3. "That's a really good card for you," says Hip. River is [7 3 2 3] 8, and I say, "just Aces." He has that "You're a fuckin' donkey" look on his face, and he folds. I scoop a pot of about $270.

Normally, I know better than to overplay AAxx in Omaha. Had this been a single raise, mulit-player hand, then I wouldn't have shipped it all-in. But this was a heads-up, 3-bet preflop hand. The flop of 7 3 2 was about as dry as you will see, so what exactly should I be afraid of? 22, 33 and two pair are unlikely. 77 is a possiblity, but I've got a 7 in my hand, so that makes it unlikly. A wrap draw of 654x is also possible.

Hip Hop plays alot of online PLO, so he is more experienced than I am. He know I probably have AAxx in that spot, and that Flop does nothing for me. So a lead out there with a big bet would be a good way to steal the pot.

Finally, even thought he never showed his cards, his comment on the Turn indicated that he flopped two pair, and got counterfeited. Why would he raise in the BB, and then call a 3-bet out of position with xx72?