I played some $10/$20 NL at the Bellagio last night and the day before. The first night, I bought in for $2000, and I busted out pretty quickly after I got stubborn with KK on a T8322 board after I had raised to $140 preflop. The mid-position caller was holding 88 and that was it for that session.
The second night was alot better, however. This time I bought in for $5000, and I had a couple of familiar faces at the table, Isabelle Mercier and Ming La. T.J. Cloutier was also standing at the table but he wasn't playing, he was watching his friend play. I'll post the significant hands:
Hand #1:
Isabelle Mercier raises to $80 in mid-position, it folds to me in the BB, and I call another $60 with KsQs. Flop is 966 with 2 spades, giving me the flush draw. I check, she bets $180, I call. Turn brings an offuit J, also giving me a gutshot straight draw. I lead out for $360, and Isabelle mucks her hand.
Hand #2:
I raise it to $80 on the button with A9, 2 callers. Flop is 987 with 2 diamonds, and I have the A of diamonds. 1st player checks, 2nd player bets $80 into the $270 pot, I call $80, 1st player folds. Turn is the Q of diamonds. He again bets $80 into the $430 pot. I call. River is the 7 of diamonds, pairing the board and also giving me the nut flush. Now the player bets $200, I try to decide whether I should flat call or raise, and I decide to make a small raise that I can easily get away from in case he has a full house. I raise $300 more, and he instantly makes it $1500 to go. I muck, he tells me he had the boat. I could have flat called there, but I was hoping he had Kd or Jd and would probably be forced to call another $300 into the $1300 pot.
Hand #3:
I get moved to the main table, 2 spots to the right of Mr. Rich Tourist, who I'll refer to as "donk" (this is a poker term for, umm, a donkey). This is my very first hand at the table. I get 7d4d in the cutoff -1 and I limp. Donk makes it $80 on the button. The BB calls, and I call $60 more. Flop comes 345 with 2 diamonds, giving me mid-pair with a gutshot straight draw and a flush draw. BB checks, I check, Donk bets $120, BB calls $120. I want the donk all to myself, so I raise to $420. Donk calls, BB folds. Turn is an offsuit 6 giving me my straight. I bet $500, and he says "Well, I got the low straight, I call." He then flips over his cards and shows K2 for the low straight. Thats not that bad of a play on his part, except for the fact that the river card hasn't been dealt yet! LOL! So now his cards are exposed, and the river card is dealt, producing an offsuit 2, putting a straight on the board, 23456. I still have the higher straight though with my 7. I look at him, and I push in another $2200. He calls! Ship it.
Hand #4:
I'm dealt KhTh on the button. 3 limpers to me, I make it $120. 2 callers. Flop is AT6 with 2 hearts. They both check, and I bet $260, and I get one caller. Turn is an offsuit 6. He checks to me, and I decide to bet $480, to hopefully push him off his weak ace. He limped in late position, so I'm not giving him credit for AK or AQ here, the only hand I am scared of is AT. He calls. River is a T, giving me a full house, Tens full of Sixes. He leads out for $900. I say "I can't believe I'm just calling you with this", and I flat call. He shows AJ, lol. I still don't think I should have raised though, theres no hand I can see that will call my raise there that isn't better than mine or a split pot, unless someone called $260 on the flop with a bare 6, which I highly doubt, since Donk was not in the hand. We both had around $10,000 behind, so I would have been in huge trouble if he had AT.
Hand #5:
Mid-position raises to $80, I make it $280 on the button with 98s. Mid-position is the only caller. Flop is JT2. He checks, I bet $400, he calls. Turn is another 2. He leads out for $700, I make it $1900. He thinks for a while before mucking AJ face up. I comfort him by telling him I had KK and that he made a good fold. ;)
Hand #6:
Donk raises to $60 UTG. 4 callers, and I call from the SB with KJ. Flop is AQT with 2 clubs, giving me the nut straight. I check, Donk bets $80, 2 callers, I decide not to slow play so I make it $380 to go, praying Donk has an Ace. Donk calls, the others fold. Turn is an offsuit 5. I bet $500, he calls. River is an offsuit 2. He has around $1200 left, so I put him all in. He says to me "You can't push me off this hand" and he calls and shows KhQh! He leaves after that hand, after dropping $18,000 to our table in less than 3 hours.
Hand #7:
Solid cut-off player raises to $120, I flat call on the button with KK. Flop is KT6 with 2 diamonds. He bets $200, I call. Turn is the 8 of diamonds. He bets $400, I call. River is another 8, giving me Kings full. He counts out $1500 in $100 bills and throws them in the middle of the pot. I count out $4000 in $100 bills and throw it in the same way. He mucks pretty quickly, and I take down the pot.
After that 7 hour session, I cashed out $13,730, giving me a profit of $8730. I'll probably play more cash games tonight, if anything interesting happens I'll be sure to post about it.
