Friday, March 21, 2008

Foxwoods with Wonka

Yesterday I was awoken by my cell ringing 3 times and not catching it quick enough. Damn you Wonka, I had finally crashed and was getting some desperately needed sleep. No message and then your phone is out of service when I call back, WTF? Anyway I call back a few hours later and we make the connection for a trip down 395 to Foxwoods later in the day. He says upfront that he wants to leave by 2am, I plan on making him stay until the sun comes up in the morning anyway since I am driving. Haha.

I get seated in the 10-hole and immediate smash my knee into the drop box, give me the seat change button please! I recognize the guy on my right, he is a regular that I have played with and talked to several times before. This is good, he has some really good reads on people and likes to talk quietly while observing the play. While waiting to post I watch a $600 pot get pushed AA vs AQ. TPTK vs the over pair. The play is surprisingly tight for a while, and I lost a stack to a set over set. My set of 5s is beat by a set of Aces. Oh well.

Wonka's table breaks and he moves over to my table. I don't mind having a friend my table, and he is seated on the far side of the table. The dynamics change when 2 Jersey guys get back from a long dinner break, 3 dealer changes. Now the action is getting bumped and re-bumped - and they are both moving their stacks in. Both of them have been stacked, re-loaded and then doubled back up with marginal hands. My regular friend decides to move across the table next to Wonka, and I take his seat to give my knees a break.

Set of Aces old guy has spewed half his stack away, and I finish him off with a turned nut flush in a 3 way pot. $15 pre flop was seen 5 ways, $60 on the flop was seen 3 ways. His all-in on the turn was flat called by the player in the middle and I decide to re-raise all in. I could have flat called, or min raised -- but I was trying to look weak and push for value at the same time. Middle guy opted not to play and I take down a nice pot. Old guy is pissed but he reloads anyway. In retrospect I should have flat called the all in, and then value bet the river.

I take a quick break at the 5th Street Cafe and use my points to buy some chowder. Jersey guy #2 make a retard raise in a very much limped pot to a whopping $5 and I repop to $27 with QQ - he calls. The flop is KTJ -- I don't really like it, but at least I am open ended. He checks, I bet $35 and he jams for about $200. WTF? I flip my Queens face up and look at him. The pin head dealer begins to deal the turn and I have to stop her saying I did not call yet. I fold my Queens and he shows me KTo.

My stack has been fluctuating, from a high of about $700 to a low of about $300, and I am stuck for about $200. A new player sits and proceeds play large pots 3-4 times with TPTK. AK, AQ, AJ, AT nonsense. His hands shake every time he bets, and I know he will eventually dump his stack with one pair.

About midnight I move over to an open seat next to Wonka, he wants to leave but I convince him to stay. A regular sits down two seats to my right and begins to punish the plethora of limpers. He got sucked out on a couple times by Mr Shaky and is on tilt. I have talked about limping with AA UTG before, but I do not like to make this play at the Foxwoods 1/2 tables. There are just so many multi-way limps that it is usually a recipe for disaster. I wake up with AA UTG and limp knowing that he is going to raise from the blind. He makes it $25 to go and I re-pop to $100. He goes all in for about $150 more and I of course make the call. He flips over A9d and I am back in the profit zone.

As we are nearing 2 am Wonka really wants to leave. The new dealer comes and I say fine we can leave when the time light comes on. I get dealt a shitty T5c in the SB but limp anyway -- this is going to be the last hand, so I might as well see the flop. Wonka raises to $20 and I am pissed. I wanted to play one more hand and he has to raise me out. I know Wonka has a good hand or he would not have made it $20 to go pre flop. There are a couple callers, but I make the well disciplined fold and toss my crap into the muck. Of course the flop comes T55 and I am livid. Wonka checks, Mr Shaky bets like $40 and Asian guy calls as does Wonka. The turn is a King and again Wonka checks, Mr Shaky bets $100, Asian guy folds and Wonka goes all in for $200 more. This is the hand that I wanted to get into it with Mr Shaky, damn you Wonka! Shaky calls and flips AKo, Wonka flips TT. Wow! We both would have flopped full houses and played Mr Shaky to death. The river brings the case 5, I nearly explode and Wonka drags a $900 pot. We rack up and cash out. Although I am pissed that Wonka rightfully raised me off my craptastic T5c, flopped boat and rivered quads, I am happy that one of us was able to punish Mr Shaky.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Sometimes getting your Aces cracked is OK!

This time, I elected not to limp under the gun with my AA, and made a pre flop raise to $8 with 4 callers coming along for the ride. I certainly did not like it when my pot sized bet was called and then raised. However the other 2 players involved where short enough to just get it all in for another $25.

This is a Full Tilt Web gem if there every was one.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Big Game

There were 105 players in the opening event for the BBT3, MiamDon's Big Game. Limping UTG with AA is a play I will make nearly every time in a cash game. Unfortunately it did not work out and I hit the rail in 85th. Limp UTG with AA, pot bet on the flop, half pot on the turn. He raised to 3600, I push the remainder of my 7K stack and the heart on the river leaves me crippled. I can't blame Goat for making his play, he had a nice flush draw on the flop and picked up an open ender on the turn. I probably would have doubled up or gone broke in his position.


No complaints from me on the hand, I certainly did not like the hearts on the flop, and I liked the Ten on the turn even less. Oh well, that's poker.