Sunday, March 18, 2007

Sick run of cards

Less than 12 hours removed from my +$300 run at the $4/$8 game I find myself driving back down to Foxwoods. I got into the Omaha game around 4pm and by 5:30 I was up $300. I was pumped and the rest of the night was pretty much a blur.

The table was full of fishes for most of the night, with the biggest two directly to my right. There was a pretty good player (Donk) sitting to my left who won his first two pots when he sat down and was feeling pretty good. Little did he know that he'd be personally handing me most of his stack.

Couple of huge hands:

A hand that I shouldn't even have been a contender for left me with trip sevens with an ace kicker when all the cards were out. The pot was roughly $120 and no chance for low. Donk bet at the end after big fish and myself checked to him. I figured one of them had to have a boat (unlikely), small flush (likely), or straight (almost guaranteed). Fish called and it was worth my while to pay off the winner. Instead, I added an additional layer to my towering pyramid of chips.

Another notable hand came during a kill hand. I was in late position and limped with KKQ10. Donk, who became very vocal and overconfident was on the verge of tilting. He raised and a bunch of us saw a J-9-3 flop with two hearts. I bet out, because, well, I wanted the pot. Donk raised, there was a call or two and I re-raised on accident because I didn't realize I already had chips in the pot. The turn brought a lovely 8 giving me the nut straight. There was still three other players in the hand so I was dodging lows, flush draws, and was praying that the board didn't pair up. We were at a point in the game where people were just plain donating though. The river brought the dreaded 3 of hearts. I was screwed. It was checked to me twice, so that meant no full houses. I bet hoping to get a low flush to fold. To my surprise I get two callers. Shit. Buttt, I scooped. Donk showed a J-9 or some shit and the other fish showed trip 3s. The pot was roughly $200. Ship it. Looking back on it, I got lucky to say the least. But it was my aggressive stance early in the hand as well as the raise by the Donk which got rid of any hands that could eventually beat me on the river.

I starred down at an excellent multi-way hand of A237 with a suited ace of clubs. I raised in late position. The raise was called and then re-raised by Donk. I capped it with two other players caught in the middle and five of us saw the flop. It was 8-7-4 with two diamonds and a club. I was positive someone flopped the straight. Regardless, I raised the initial bettor. There was a call, the Donk re-raised and I capped it with four of us taking a look at the turn. At this point I was fully low card counterfeit protected, had a pair of 7s and back-door nut-flush possibility. The turn brought the 10 of clubs. With four players still in the hand I could have easily been fighting for only a quarter of the pot. We all put in three more bets a piece and I looked away as the river was dealt. 5 of clubs. Amazing. It was checked to me and to my surprise everyone stayed in for another bet a piece. One guy showed a 23 with some other shit for high, one guy showed a straight, and one guy showed an A2310. I took three quarters of the nearly $300 pot. Donk was pissed at me for raising (he had the king high flush and a couple of low cards). It wasn't worth justifying my unbeatable low, but I did admit I had a huge chance of being quartered. Regardless, there was enough money in the pot and players in the hand to keep me firing. It's worth noting that if an ace hit on the river, I was only going to get a sixth of the pot. I got lucky.

My favorite hand came near the end. It was a beauty. A234 with some suitedness. I know for sure that the Donk was in this hand, but I don't remember who else. After the flop, which was an orgasmic A-2-A, it was heads-up. I fired a bet, Donk raised me, and I 3-bet him. He obviously put me on A2, but he had a nice hand of his own, A35Q. The turn brought a 6 giving me nut low and second nut high. He paid me off, which he had to do, and I scooped it when the river was a blank. I truly felt bad and Donk was pissed. He was on a nearly $300 downswing at this point.

For the most part, I had many easy decisions throughout the night. I was dealt a huge arsenal of well coordinated hands, including many A2 and suited aces. I played pretty loose also. I took advantage of a few pocket high cards with two low card type hands (KK25 for example). I did a lot of promo raising and I did a lot of early position betting, manipulating the size of the pot to give me drawing odds.

When all was said and done, I was sitting with $720 in front of me - more than the entire table combined. My best session ever and most profitable in terms of $/hr. I cashed out up $530 in just four hours of play.

I think I'll avoid Foxwoods next weekend after giving such a beating and then I'll be hitting up Atlantic City the weekend after, right before the start of the baseball season. Or maybe I'll just jump right into the $75/$150 game.

Not so fast Sach.

Inaugural Post

I'm not sure how long I'll be keeping up with this, but here it goes.

Just got back from an eight hour session at Foxwoods. I won't be identifying where I'm playing just in case any of my opponents stumble accross this blog. I started off with some $1-$5 Stud until my game of choice got under way. I finished with 40 bets at the $4/$8 Omaha Hi-Lo game which features a half-kill. Today there was roughly ten kill pots total (in which the stakes move up to $6/$12 for the next hand and the winner of the hand is forced to post $6 pre-flop). A kill pot is defined as any pot in which there is at least $80 and no splits. Winning three of these pots, padded my stack nicely. Being only my fourth trip to Foxwoods, this was my second $300+ day, which is a confidence booster to say the least. With only 30 hours under my belt, my results are meaningless as I've only seen about 1000 hands.

Unlike my last session (a Thursday) which was comprised of nine knowledgeable players trading chips back and forth, today (a Saturday) was fueled by a huge fish who was playing 90% of his hands out of the blinds. I figure he personally donated an extra $100 to me en route to him suffering a -$300 two hour downswing. He went on to win most of it back, which is good for me because it keeps the fishies happy. There were many other fish at the table for most of the day, until roughly 10pm when most of them went broke. I was able to scoop a few pots, throwing in a couple of good promo-raises, stealing when possible, and ultimately cashed out when the table tightened up.

I can never remember any specific hands, but I can recall a few lucky scoops. One was catching runner-runner quads (2nd quads of the night). Another was on a board of J-J-x where I held K-K-J-x and my opponent had flopped a boat with a J. He bet the flop and I called, hoping to catch a full house of my own, or a king to give me a huge boat. I was last to act when the turn came and I still didn't fill up. It was checked to me (dumb) and I bet out to get rid of any low draws. Called by the flop bettor. When the river brought a king, I was faced with a bet and easily raised, taking down the kill pot.

Another hand near the end gave me a flop with a nut low draw as well as two pairs. The turn gave me a nut flush draw to go with my full house and low draws (counterfeit protected) and I was envisioning another $100+ pot coming my way. The river was one of only ten cards that could have hurt me and I paid off the big fish to make him happy he hit his miracle runner-runner broadway straight.

In the future, I'll try to provide more hand histories, but after eight hour marathon sessions, I'm usually too burnt out to remember them.

I want to stay away from Foxwoods for a bit so I don't come off as a total shark. I've met a few guys that will recognize me next time and I want them to continue to think of me as their friend and not their social security thief.

I should be taking a trip to Atlantic City by the end of the month, so I'll get to check out the action there.