![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksA somewhat frustrating Friday morning. Turned up for the Flamingo Freeroll (10 hours play in the week to qualify). 71 runners and 20 spots paid, 10 at $150 and 10 at $375.
You get 3,000 chips and the structure is fast (opening blind level of 25-50, 15-minutes per level), but the regulars know that this does not necessitate going mad from the get-go. There were still six tables going when the average stack was 3,300 and the blinds were 200-400.
I had played hardly any hands at all, but two uncalled shoves when the blinds were 200-400 got me up to 3,800. Then I picked up AA in the small blind, got it all in vs KQo in the big blind, and lost to 2 pairs kings and queens. So it goes.
All in with AA just twice this week, and lost both times. I guess the EV cost this time round was about $100.
That left me with T25 on blinds of 200-400, not the best spot to be in, it must be admitted - one-sixteenth of a big blind. But I passed for three hands and reached the colour up stage, thus quadrupling my stack to T100 and one-eighth of a Big Blind. Not many players (apart from one notable ex-Luton and ex-Gutshot player) can quadruple their chip count while on a break.
Unfortunately, when I chose my spot of KJo, opponent's ATo won with ease and I was out. Happy with the way I played etc etc. I would expect to cash in these about 40% of the time, TBH.
Two hours of cash afterwards at Flamingo generated little of interest. Hit a couple of hands and check-raised the right amount, but got no customers. Lost the minimum with JJ overpair when a third club came on turn and a rock put in a $30 bet. Finished $26 down.
Drove to grocery store and stocked up. Bought some Mountain Dew, a soft drink that I have never sampled before. It's the colour of urine, but it tastes rather nice.
Driving back into town at 6pm was a nightmare. The worst traffic and nowhere to park. I suspect that the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) will cause similar problems for the rest of the weekend, so I will have a long walk in hot sun from my car to the card room.
The evening sessions proved to be more profitable. I got a nice start with KQs, value-betting all the way an old-guy opponent on a board of KxxxK. He had KT. But then it all went a bit pear-shaped in dribs and drabs and suddenly I was down to $75 in front of me, from a high of $180.
Luckily I got AK under the gun and this time managed not to misplay it. Opponent with AJ seemed quite happy to double me through via my bets on flop and turn on a board of Axxxx.
The most notable hand was when I had KQ in the Big Blind and got in cheaply. The board came QT3 rainbow. I bet smallish ($7) and got one caller (old guy, weak player I think). Turn was a 7 and I bet $11. He calls again. River is a deuce and I'm beginning to get concerned. I had initially planned a $21 river bet, but I decided to make it a semi-blocking bet of $11. He hummed and hahhed, eventually putting the money in, which led me to think I was good. I tabled my hand and he stared at it, stared at his hand, stared at the board. By this time I feel sure that he's got something like QJ. But, no. He puts down his hand of - 32. So, not only does he call me all the way with bottom pair bottom kicker, but then he slow-rolls me. It was incompetence rather than maliciousness, but still somewhat grating.
The game got rather annoying now. A bit of a loud-mouth young drinker sat at my left, kept trying to act before I had finished my action. Then a new dealer came in who made a dealer error I don't think I have seen before. Old guy in Seat 5 (the one who called me earlier with KT) went all in pre-flop for his last $30, raising the guy on his right who had raised to $10. Dealer leans forward to tell old guy to protect his hand and then, presumably working on auto-pilot, simultaneously picks up said hand as if it had been folded! She immediately realizes and puts back the hand. Floor is called and she says she will look at the two cards, and player has to whisper in her ear what two cards he had). This happens, but unfortunately the information does not match. The dealer had replaced the wrong two cards.
So the only choice here is to give back the $30 and declare the hand dead (fortunately there had been no action behind)
Of course, you can see where this is headed. Everyone else passes and original raiser shows his AA, insisting that that the $30 should have stayed in the pot, because he had been in a similar situation in the Rio. The key here is whether there is action behind.
Just about all the floor calls I have seen in the past week have been because of dealer error rather than player error. The poker rules tend to cover all player error situations, but dealer error situations are often far less clear cut, and there will always be one player or more than one player who suffers as a result.
Young guy was pissing me off and the dealer seemed to be more interested in chatting than dealing, so I resorted to headphones - a rare strategy on my part. Neutral Milk Hotel.
For the rest of the evening it was a case of bits and pieces. Getting on for nothing on the big blind with J9o is always nice, particularly when the flop comes 999. Small blind took a quick $10 stab at it, but wouldn't try to bluff any further, damn him.
I suddenly found myself more than $150 up, so I decided to head back to the Flamingo.
Played there for an hour and benefited from players' tendency to put in big pre-flop raises that got callers behind. When a middle position player puts in an 8x raise, called behind in two spots, KK is a nice hand to find in the big blind. I three-bet to $48 with the intention of shoving my remaining $80 on any flop. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately) all three opponents declined to give me any custom.
Mr Hawes had been playing the seniors in the Rio earlier, and, after busting, went to play some cash in Caesar's. He came over at about 11.15pm and we went to Hash House A GoGo in the Linq. Had a burger. Pleasant. After that it was a long trek back (temperature still about 31/86, at midnight-thirty!) to the car, which I eventually found. Was very tired.
I've crawled to $221 up after five days play, plus $35 Total Rewards rakeback. I know that I've talked about the Aces being cracked, but I've had a few hands that have gone the right way as well. This isn't a case of sucking out. It's a case of putting in the right bets and hitting the right flops. Or winning hands that I "should" win. If I win 80% of the hands where I am averaging an EV of 80%, then I am running neither good nor bad. That's about where I am at at the moment, I would say. Not running good, but not running dreadfully bad.
You get 3,000 chips and the structure is fast (opening blind level of 25-50, 15-minutes per level), but the regulars know that this does not necessitate going mad from the get-go. There were still six tables going when the average stack was 3,300 and the blinds were 200-400.
I had played hardly any hands at all, but two uncalled shoves when the blinds were 200-400 got me up to 3,800. Then I picked up AA in the small blind, got it all in vs KQo in the big blind, and lost to 2 pairs kings and queens. So it goes.
All in with AA just twice this week, and lost both times. I guess the EV cost this time round was about $100.
That left me with T25 on blinds of 200-400, not the best spot to be in, it must be admitted - one-sixteenth of a big blind. But I passed for three hands and reached the colour up stage, thus quadrupling my stack to T100 and one-eighth of a Big Blind. Not many players (apart from one notable ex-Luton and ex-Gutshot player) can quadruple their chip count while on a break.
Unfortunately, when I chose my spot of KJo, opponent's ATo won with ease and I was out. Happy with the way I played etc etc. I would expect to cash in these about 40% of the time, TBH.
Two hours of cash afterwards at Flamingo generated little of interest. Hit a couple of hands and check-raised the right amount, but got no customers. Lost the minimum with JJ overpair when a third club came on turn and a rock put in a $30 bet. Finished $26 down.
Drove to grocery store and stocked up. Bought some Mountain Dew, a soft drink that I have never sampled before. It's the colour of urine, but it tastes rather nice.
Driving back into town at 6pm was a nightmare. The worst traffic and nowhere to park. I suspect that the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) will cause similar problems for the rest of the weekend, so I will have a long walk in hot sun from my car to the card room.
The evening sessions proved to be more profitable. I got a nice start with KQs, value-betting all the way an old-guy opponent on a board of KxxxK. He had KT. But then it all went a bit pear-shaped in dribs and drabs and suddenly I was down to $75 in front of me, from a high of $180.
Luckily I got AK under the gun and this time managed not to misplay it. Opponent with AJ seemed quite happy to double me through via my bets on flop and turn on a board of Axxxx.
The most notable hand was when I had KQ in the Big Blind and got in cheaply. The board came QT3 rainbow. I bet smallish ($7) and got one caller (old guy, weak player I think). Turn was a 7 and I bet $11. He calls again. River is a deuce and I'm beginning to get concerned. I had initially planned a $21 river bet, but I decided to make it a semi-blocking bet of $11. He hummed and hahhed, eventually putting the money in, which led me to think I was good. I tabled my hand and he stared at it, stared at his hand, stared at the board. By this time I feel sure that he's got something like QJ. But, no. He puts down his hand of - 32. So, not only does he call me all the way with bottom pair bottom kicker, but then he slow-rolls me. It was incompetence rather than maliciousness, but still somewhat grating.
The game got rather annoying now. A bit of a loud-mouth young drinker sat at my left, kept trying to act before I had finished my action. Then a new dealer came in who made a dealer error I don't think I have seen before. Old guy in Seat 5 (the one who called me earlier with KT) went all in pre-flop for his last $30, raising the guy on his right who had raised to $10. Dealer leans forward to tell old guy to protect his hand and then, presumably working on auto-pilot, simultaneously picks up said hand as if it had been folded! She immediately realizes and puts back the hand. Floor is called and she says she will look at the two cards, and player has to whisper in her ear what two cards he had). This happens, but unfortunately the information does not match. The dealer had replaced the wrong two cards.
So the only choice here is to give back the $30 and declare the hand dead (fortunately there had been no action behind)
Of course, you can see where this is headed. Everyone else passes and original raiser shows his AA, insisting that that the $30 should have stayed in the pot, because he had been in a similar situation in the Rio. The key here is whether there is action behind.
Just about all the floor calls I have seen in the past week have been because of dealer error rather than player error. The poker rules tend to cover all player error situations, but dealer error situations are often far less clear cut, and there will always be one player or more than one player who suffers as a result.
Young guy was pissing me off and the dealer seemed to be more interested in chatting than dealing, so I resorted to headphones - a rare strategy on my part. Neutral Milk Hotel.
For the rest of the evening it was a case of bits and pieces. Getting on for nothing on the big blind with J9o is always nice, particularly when the flop comes 999. Small blind took a quick $10 stab at it, but wouldn't try to bluff any further, damn him.
I suddenly found myself more than $150 up, so I decided to head back to the Flamingo.
Played there for an hour and benefited from players' tendency to put in big pre-flop raises that got callers behind. When a middle position player puts in an 8x raise, called behind in two spots, KK is a nice hand to find in the big blind. I three-bet to $48 with the intention of shoving my remaining $80 on any flop. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately) all three opponents declined to give me any custom.
Mr Hawes had been playing the seniors in the Rio earlier, and, after busting, went to play some cash in Caesar's. He came over at about 11.15pm and we went to Hash House A GoGo in the Linq. Had a burger. Pleasant. After that it was a long trek back (temperature still about 31/86, at midnight-thirty!) to the car, which I eventually found. Was very tired.
I've crawled to $221 up after five days play, plus $35 Total Rewards rakeback. I know that I've talked about the Aces being cracked, but I've had a few hands that have gone the right way as well. This isn't a case of sucking out. It's a case of putting in the right bets and hitting the right flops. Or winning hands that I "should" win. If I win 80% of the hands where I am averaging an EV of 80%, then I am running neither good nor bad. That's about where I am at at the moment, I would say. Not running good, but not running dreadfully bad.
