More Adventures in No Limit
Two more sessions, two more wins So, I played a couple of more sessions of no-limit in the past two days.Yesterday I made it into the Wynn at 3pm to play in the 5-10 no max buy-in NL game. This game is all over the place. Sometimes really good, other times really bad, and the rest of the time right in the middle. When I sat down the game was really good, turned bad, and then got decent when I moved to the main game. I honestly cannot remember any significant hand that I played, but ended up $2255 after six hours of play.
From there I drove over to Harrah's to meet some friends at the Piano Bar. If you have never been there before, next time you are in Vegas, I strongly recommend it. It's a great joint period, but is especially good for pre-partying before going out somewhere else. This night however, it was the only destination. When everybody got there the party included myself, Lara, Charlie Sewell, Claudia, Jim Shipley, Joe Sebok, Amanda from pokerwire.com, Lisa and two of her friends, Brandon Cantu, and Theo Tran. Check out the picture on my myspace page and you'll get a pretty good idea of how the night went :-).
Today I woke up somewhat groggy, checked my e-mail, and then realized at 1:45pm that I needed to be at Caesar's for the NBC National Heads-Up Championship Satellite. They were guaranteeing one seat into the 25k buy in event, and Sebok, Theo, and myself were planning on showing up. I arrived at 2:45pm, paid the $200+30 entry fee, and took my seat. When we finally got the cards in the air we had 8 full nine-handed tables, and the field was pretty much a joke. There were a few players, but the play in general was pretty poor. Nothing special happened during the event, but I must rant about the structure.
Harrah's was guaranteeing one seat into one of the most prestigeous tournaments ever, televised on NBC. So, for our $200+30 buy-in we got 1500 in chips and 30 minute levels starting at 25-50. OK fine... not bad. Unlimited re-buys for $200 first two levels for 1500 in chips, and one add-on for $200 at the first break for 2500 in chips. But here's the structure, 30 minute levels:
25-50
50-100
(10 min break, actually turned into 20 mins)
100-200/25
200-400/50
(10 min break, race off quarters)
400-800/100
600-1200/100
(10 min break)
1000-2000/200
2000-4000/400
What the?!? How retarded is that? Harrah's is pretty much guaranteeing that whoever they give the seat to is going to be completely clueless. Whoever draws first round against that satellite winner is the biggest luckbox ever. I was pretty frustrated to say the least, got busted out on the river, and won't ever play an event like that again. So lame.
Anyways, I headed over to the Wynn to play some more 5-10 NL and actually have a few interesting hands to report.
First one, I have about $4300 on the table. A really bad player makes it $40 UTG, I call in mid pos with 66, two players call behind as does the BB (this was one of those good game nights). The flop comes Q45, two clubs. BB checks, bad player thinks for a while and finally bets $100. I have him either on a club draw or some weakish hand, but definately something that cannot stand much heat. I make it $260. Everybody folds back to him, he thinks forever, and reluctantly calls the additional $160. Turn is an offsuit J. He checks, clearly hates his hand, and I follow through by betting $400. He thinks forever and reluctantly calls. I'm assuming at this point that he's on a club draw. The river is an offsuit deuce, he checks, and I check behind. He tables QTo, and I muck my hand.
I think I played this pretty bad. My read was accurate, but this was a player that was really bad because of his loose calls rather than his retarded bluffs. In the heat of the moment I thought I could get him off his hand because he had laid down hands to me on the turn a couple of times prior, but both times I was the aggressor. You can't bluff the unbluffable Devo! By the time I got to the river though, I think if I had shoved I would have finally gotten him to lay it down, but his range was so wide that I think checking the river was the right play. Oh well, I pissed off $700 in that hand. At least it was good for my image!
About an hour later I had about $3600 in front of me and this hand came up. I limped in the SB with 95o and we saw a flop five ways for $10 each. It came Q73 and checked around. Turn 9 putting two clubs out there. Checked to the guy in 3rd position who is a chronic bluffer and he bet $40. Fold, button folded, and I was pretty confident that my hand is good. I made it $120. BB folded, and the bluffer called. River 4 offsuit. This is where it gets fun. I'm super confident that he was semi-bluffing the turn. Thus, the four does not help his hand. I decide to go to "value-check town". I check, and he instantly bets about $300 in $10 chips. I say, "How much is that? Eh, doesn't matter. I call," and throw four black chips into the pot. His cards instantly hit the muck and I never had to show my hand. So sweet.
Very next hand I'm on the button and everybody folds to me. I look down at a pair of ones, the good ol' AA. I make it $40 and both blinds call. Flop comes 842 one suit. Checks to me, I fire $100, SB folds, and my buddy goes all-in for about $500. I instantly call, table my AA, and he tables 85o, no draw. The board bricks out and I busted him in two consecutive hands. Good times. He left, came back, re-bought, blew his whole stack to my friend Ann with 77 v. QQ preflop, quit, and then I finally decided to call it quits up $1077.
So this no-limit adventure is going pretty well so far. I'm going to stick it out for at least another three weeks and we'll see how things are going after that point, but so far I'm really liking it. I'm seeing much more value with much less fluctuation, and even though I'm bored out of my mind, it's work, and I'm doing this for money, not the entertainment, so however I can make more and risk less I am going to pursue.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
posted by Devo @ 3:07 AM
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