Quiet Finish

I wish I had more hands to write about but the last session was pretty boring. It lasted 4 hours and I ended it with a profit of $2120. The only big pot I played was the following:

$10/$20 NL, UTG raises to $80, 2 callers, I call on the button with 22, BB re-raises to $240, all 3 players call, I also make the call. Flop comes 662. Its checked around to me and there is around $1250 in the pot. I bet $600, and unfortunately everybody folds. I was sure at least one of them had a big PP and would raise me but I guess they were all on high cards or small PP's.

Good thing I checked our flight time on Wednesday night, because I had thought our flight left on Thursday night and we would have all day Thursday to play. Turns out our flight was at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday morning and we only had 3 hours before we had to be at the airport.

Viva Las Vegas.

Now its back to Eurolinx for me. You can find me playing there almost every day under the username "_myst_". If you have any trouble setting up your account or making sure you are properly set up with the bonus code "myst", feel free to email me at marc6044@hotmail.com. I also use MSN messenger on the same email account.

Nice Recovery

As far as suck-outs go, today was a much better day than yesterday. I only took one bad beat, and even though it was a 1-outer, it was a split pot, so it wasn't that bad.

I sat at $10/$20 NL today with $15,000. The biggest stack at the table was around $12,000 so I wanted to make sure I had everyone covered so I could get paid off maximum if I hit a big hand. There is no max buy-in at the Bellagio's $10/$20 NL and higher tables, which is awesome because I love to play deep-stack poker.

About 15 minutes into the session I was able to pick out a couple of maniacs at my table. One of them was making huge bets, most of them raises on the river, and then showing complete garbage. I like playing against these types of players but it can also be very dangerous because you will be compelled to call their huge bets with mediocre hands and of course sometimes they will have the goods.

The first significant hand came up about half an hour into the session.

Hand #1:

UTG raises to $100, maniac calls, I call with AJs on the button. Flop comes A88 with 2 clubs. UTG bets $100, maniac calls, I call. Turn is an offsuit 5. UTG checks, maniac checks, I think of putting a bet in here, but I really don't want the maniac to raise me, so I check behind. River is the 2c putting 3 clubs on board. UTG checks, maniac bets $460, I call, UTG folds. Maniac shows Qc9c. I thought about whether I should have bet the turn, but there was no way I was pushing him out of that pot unless I bet over $600, and I still had the tight UTG to worry about as he could have been slowplaying AA or AK.

Hand #2:

2 hands later, I am in the BB with J7 of hearts. Maniac limps in mid-position, and it folds around to me. I check. Flop is KJ4 with one heart. I check, maniac checks. Turn is the T of hearts. I check, maniac checks. River is the Q of hearts, putting KQJT4 on the board giving me the Jack high flush. There is $50 in the pot, and I bet $500. He insta-calls. I show the flush and he mucks.

Hand #3:

Maniac limps in mid-position, and I make it $100 to go with KQ of hearts on the button, he calls. Flop is T93 rainbow. Maniac checks, I check. Turn is a beautiful J. Maniac checks, I bet $200, maniac calls. River is a 5. Maniac checks, I bet $600, maniac raises to $1800. I make it $5000 flat, maniac quickly folds.

Hand #4:

All fold to me on the button, and I raise to $80 with ATs. SB re-raises to $160, he has around $1500 behind. I call $80 more. Flop comes QT5. SB bets $160 into a $340 pot. I call. Turn is another T, giving me trip 10's. SB bets $400, I raise to $5400, he calls his last $800 or so and shows KK. River is a 7 and I take down the pot.

Hand #5:

Our table is a must-move table, and to my dismay the maniac gets moved to the main table, and a new player takes his seat. I get a run of bad cards and haven't played a hand in about 45 minutes, so I decide to raise to $100 on the button with T4 of hearts after a couple of players limped in. I get one caller. Flop is 932. The player bets $120, and I flat call, hoping to steal it from him on the turn. Turn is a T, change of plans. He bets $200, I flat call. River is another 2. Player bets $500, and this really confuses me. I couldn't picture him as a tricky enough player to lead into me with a set on the flop. It also didn't make sense to keep betting hard with a 9 after I was flat calling him on the flop and turn. I decide to call, and he doesn't even show his cards, he just mucks them. I don't show my hand either and I take the pot down.

Hand #6:

Same player as the previous hand raises to $80 in early position, everyone folds and I call in the BB with T9s. Flop is QT4 with 2 hearts. I check, he checks. Turn is an offsuit 5. I bet $80, he calls. River is an offsuit 6. I bet $80 again, and he makes it $580. Once again this doesn't make sense. I say "either you have QQ or nothing", and I call. He just mucks his cards again. This time I show my hand.

Hand #7:

I get moved to the main table to the right of the maniac. He raises to $80 UTG, 1 caller, and I call with A9 of hearts on the button. Flop is 742 with one heart. Maniac checks, other player checks, I check. Turn is the J of hearts. Maniac bets $140, player folds, I call. River is a 9. Maniac bets $480. I decide to call figuring he either has a monster or nothing. He shows JJ. Well played.

Hand #8:

Mid-position raises to $60, one caller, I make it $260 in the cut-off with JJ. Both players call. Flop is 555. Both players check, I bet $500, original raiser calls, second player folds. Turn is the other 5! Great, now I have Jack high. He checks, I check. River is a 7. He checks, I check. He goes to throw his hand away, and I show mine. His eyes light up, and he flips over JT, split pot! He had ONE out after the flop, and of course it hits on the turn. Oh well, at least he didn't have QJ.

Hand #9:

Same guy with the JT from the previous hand limps in mid position, and 3 other people limp. I check in the BB with KQ of clubs. Flop is K34 with 2 clubs. I bet $80, Mr. JT raises to $400. I make it $1200, and he pushes the rest of his money which is $800 more than my raise. I call the $800. Turn is an offsuit 9 and the river is an offsuit 8. He says "I didn't get there", I show my hand and he mucks his cards. He later said that he had 65 of clubs.

The session lasted around 5 hours and I finished the day with a profit of $8260. I am here for 2 more days and I plan to play as much poker as possible until we leave as my comfort level is unreal right now. I'm planning to spend up to 2 months in Vegas this summer during the WSOP, I've heard the action is incredible during the Series and I hope to get a piece of it.

Wow

The fight was unbelievable.

Before the fight at the weigh-in, De La Hoya went to shake Mayorga's hand, and Mayorga stepped back, grabbed his nuts, and shook them in front of De La Hoya in disrespect. Then right before the fight, Mayorga was staring at De La Hoya trying to act tough and intimidate him. De La Hoya knocked him down in the first round and at the end of the round he just stood there and stared at Mayorga the same way, it was priceless.

De La Hoya dominated the fight until the 6th round, but Mayorga was still being very cocky. Early in the 6th, De La Hoya knocked him down again and the whole crowd stood up and starting going nuts. Right after Mayorga got back up, De La Hoya must have hit him with 50 straight punches until he went down again, it was incredible.

I can't describe the atmosphere in the arena, it was by far the best sports event I have ever attended in my life.

Back to poker, I played for a few hours yesterday and it didn't go too well. I took some horrible flukes and I recovered some of it but still ended the day in the minus.

Hand #1:

$10/$20 NL. I am dealt AA on the button. 3 limpers to me, and I make it $120 to go. 2 callers. Flop 743r. First player to act bets out $400, second player folds, I make it $1200. He calls. Turn 6. There's around $2800 in the pot and he pushes all-in for his last $1000, I call. He flips over 85 offsuit and I am drawing dead.

Hand #2:

$10/$20 NL. I am dealt JJ in the cut-off. Same player from the previous hand in mid-position raises to $60, one caller, I make it $260 to go. Both players call. Flop is 963r. Same player once again bets out $400, player 2 folds, and I once again make it $1200. He calls. He now has around $2500 left and I have him covered. Turn J, I turn my set. He checks and I go into the tank trying to figure out how I am going to get the rest of his money. There are no visible draws with the way the hand played out and if he has a set then I am in great shape. There is a little over $3000 in the pot and I decided to once again bet $1200, figuring if he calls this bet there is no way he can fold on the river for his last $1300. He calls me instantly. Perfect. River is a harmless 5. He pushes in his last $1300 and I get my money into the pot faster than Takeru Kobayashi at a hot dog eating contest. He flips over 87. I wait for the dealer to push the chips toward me, uh wait a sec buddy, you're pushing the chips the wrong way. I look at the cards again, WTF? He has the nut straight. Are you kidding me? I ask him how much he likes me. He looks at me confused. I tell him I am asking because he keeps trying to give me all of his money.

Anyways, I flopped a set once and got paid off, and won a few other pots and managed to recover enough to only be down $1900 for the session. I'm still up around $1000 for the trip and hopefully tomorrow will bring me less suckouts.

In Vegas Once More

Just touched down last night around midnight, and made our way over to the Bellagio in style in a stretch Escalade limo.

We got settled in our room and then made our way down to the Poker room. I met up with my good friend Costa who is also from Ottawa. Costa and my cousin Steve ended up playing $2/$5 NL with a $200 max buy-in, and they both killed the game. Steve made over $700 and Costa had a massive stack of over $1700 by the time we ended up leaving.

I bought in for $8000 at the $10/$20 NL table. First hand I sit down, I post the BB in the cut-off, its folded around to me, and I look down to see J9 suited. I make it $60 to go, button calls, BB calls.

Flop comes T99, no flush draw. BB checks, I bet $140, button makes it $600. BB folds, and I notice that the button only has around $500 left, so I announce 'raise' and throw in my $5000 stack of $100 bills. He folds instantly. I figured he would have called having already comitted more than half of his stack, but I was content with winning over $700 on the very first hand.

There was one crazy player at our table right across from me. He must have been all in 7 or 8 times out of the 50 hands I sat through. He would always check-min-raise on the turn, and then push the river, and nobody ever called him. He had around $2000 in front of him, and he made it $80 to go in early position. Its folded around to me and I call with T9 suited on the button.

Flop comes J93 rainbow. He checks, I feel a check-raise coming, so I check behind. Turn is another 9. He checks, I bet $140, he min-raises to $280. I flat call. River is a T. He pushes for around $1600. I call. He must have had absolutely nothing because he just threw his cards into the muck. I would have definately called him even without the T on the river.

I finished the session up $2860. End of Day 1.

Tomorrow is the fight between De La Hoya-Mayorga at the MGM. I'm not sure if we'll have any time to play any poker but if we do I'll be sure to post some updates.