Borgata Poker Open $2500+150 NLHE
75 minutes of "fun" Tired of reading about lions, tigers, and bears? Ready for some poker content?Too bad! I only got 75 minutes of play today so you only get to hear about the two big hands that I played.
I had heard about the legendary structures at the Borgata, and from what I actually got to see I was impressed. 12k in starting chips blinds 25-50 with hour levels. About 45 minutes in my stack had dwindled to 11,100. My image had to be in the loose/passive neighborhood because I had been seeing a ton of flops but not putting in much action post flop. Furthermore, twice I had made bets post flop, and twice I had folded to a raise. So.
Young active player that I've never seen before limps UTG. I find AA in MP and make it 175, all fold except UTG. Flop T 4 2. Now, this is one of those boards that you're usually miles ahead but you're in serious trouble if you're behind. Furthermore, if you're ahead, it's not too likely that you're gonna get action from something that you're crushing unless your opponent is doing something goofy UTG (ie big pair). My opponent leads for 300 on the flop. Normally it's a raise here, but since we're playing so deep, the only way I'm going to win the maximum is by letting my opponent bang away with one pair. Furthermore, by just calling I am protecting myself from a big hand. I call, and at this point I still have no read on my opponent.
Turn: 8. He checks. OK, good - he has something in the JT range. Can't let him have a freebie, I bet 700. He makes it 2100.
Now, let me comment on the turn check-raise. This play has caught on a lot lately, and it's been working, but I think that it is not a very good play, because it just screams strength - much like the limp-re-raise UTG pre-flop. My cards were on their way to the muck, esp since we were so deep, but... arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghh. This board is so freakin dry and his range is so wide, ugh. He doesn't have TT. 22, 44, 88, possible. T8? Ehh, maybe, but highly unlikely. T4, T2, 42, no way. Air? Possible. JJ-AA, 99, 77-33? Also very possible. So, his CR was to 2100, I wanted to muck so bad, but everything was there that kept my cards from instantly hitting the muck - super dry board, young/aggressive kid, and the simple lack of a read vs. an unknown opponent. I called, planning on re-evaluating on the river.
River Qx, and he bet 2600. Now I really wanted to puke, cause that's either the perfect value bet or an obvious blocking bet. I have 8700 in my stack at this point, and he's leaving himself enough room to get away from his hand if I shove, or is it a sick value bet? Maybe it's a bluff induction bet? I DON'T KNOW! As much as I wanted to throw my cards into the muck, I decided there were just too many other hands that I beat as I was only really afraid of 22 and 44. I called, he showed me 44, and I wasn't sure how to feel about the hand. I don't know if I lost the maximum or the minimum. I don't ever see myself going bust there, but I think laying it down at any point is really weak also, especially since my range in his eyes is so wide also. I could just as easily have JT in the spot, and he could honestly think that he's going to value town with some goofiyly played KK. For the record, that's been another hip trend lately, the ol slow-play big pairs early, and I think that's terrible, but enough people have been doing it lately that it's always gotta be taken into consideration, especially early when so many unknowns are still in.
Anyways, fast forward 30 minutes, we're now playing 50-100, and I won a small pot to bring my stack back to 7k. This hand was also much of the same lines of thought, but I had a little bit more history on my opponent. I limp ATo in position and we see a flop four ways - both blinds and the guy to my right. Flop A Q T . BB bets 300, guy to my right makes it 1100, and I'm stumped once again. I can't really shove for 7k, I can't really raise to 3k and then fold to a push, I hate just calling, and I hate folding. OK... range thinking time. This guy has been playing pretty straight forward, very classic amateur player style. Underbet weak hands, overbet weak hands on drawy boards, and slow play monsters. I saw all three of these go to showdown in three different hands. Underbet AA on flop and turn and checked river hu on KTx, 8, x board. Called flop with a gutterball, caught it on turn, just called again on turn instead of raising, and then I saw him bet a top pair hard on a sd/fd flop. So, I decided to just call and evaluate on the turn cause he could easily have KJ and be protecting himself from the clubs, but he also could just as easily have AJ or less, QT, or KQ/QJ . Hell, you also get to throw in the 10% goofball factor. Again, I know he doesn't have AQ, AA, QQ, TT, cause he's the type of player that will raise those hands pre-flop. Knowing that, I've basically got the second nuts. I want to see a turn and see what he does with it.
Turns a total brick and he FIRES 3k. Now I'm almost positive that he's got QT and is putting me on Ax or a drawy type hand. I pause long enough to make sure that he'll call my additional 3k shove, stick it in, and I think I'm a genius after he doesn't instantly call. Then he finally does call after about four seconds and shows me K J , I feel slowrolled, and wander back up here to write. I'll have to chew on these hands a bit. The sick part is that my instinct was to toss it both times but couldn't find the laydown. Anyways, tomorrow is the $500+60.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
posted by Devo @ 11:10 AM
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