Friday afternoon I headed down to Atlantic City for some dinner time poker action followed by drinking and merriment. The poker in the afternoon went fairly well. The drinking went well. The merriment went well until it was curtailed by the pits, harshly. But since this is a poker blog, we'll just talk about that.
I'm normally a limit player but have been trying to play more NL live, just because the games can be so profitable. I don't enjoy the game as much but I like to think I can be competetent at it. When we got to The Borgata the lists were somewhat long for 3/6 and 5/10, and not having an exceptional amount of time to play (maybe 2.5 hours) I decided to just take the open seat at 1/2 NL. Bought in for 200, max is 300. There are three things that I really need to work on NL. First and foremost is not just seeing a flop for 2 bucks. This is a horrible habit from limit that I need to ditch. Second is letting myself be pushed off winning hands. Third is missing value bets on the end, being content to check what figures to be the best hand. And let me tell you they all showed their head on Friday, but some were improved.
For the first hour I didn't do much of anything except bleed off. Kept trying to see flops, play in position. Problem was a I couldn't hit anything. Didn't really raise too much, but still managed to bleed off 80 bucks. Then with 1 limper I get AQd in the hijack and make it 12, limper calls. Flop comes low and I bet 20 into the 25 pot and he calls. Miss the turn and check. River misses and he fires 50 into me. Pot sized bet on the river means he may have had nothing, because that seems like a pretty big value bet. I obviously let it go. Two hands later I make it 7 to with AJos, get about 6 calls. Flop top pair with a FD on the board and bet 40 into the appox. 45 pot. Same guy calls. Turn pairs the 7 on the board, he checks. I think he maybe floating at this point or on the FD. If the flush card comes on the river its tough to call any big bet there, if it doesn't and he makes a big bet I could pick him off. In the end I just didn't feel like taking the chance and shoved. He folded.
Ok, the big hand of the night. I get AA near the button, I think there was an early limp so I make it 12 to go. 4 people call, including the button, SB, BB and early limper. Flop comes Kh7x9h. Checks to me and I bet 40 into the 50ish in the pot. Button folds, SB (fairly loose) calls, BB and limper fold. Turn brings another K and SB bets into me for 20. This bet seemed weird, because if he was protecting a King against a potential FD ( why i would have a fd here i don't know) why bet soooo small into a 100+ pot. Unless he was just trying to figure out if I had a king, weakly I just called, which I'm sure told him I didn't have one. The river comes a blank, something low. He takes the rest of his stack and sticks it in, about 80 bucks. Literally, takes the stack and not slamming but forcefully putting it in. This act just made me think he did not want to be called. I only had about 60 left. And yes, I felt like he didn't want to be called, but to say that I frustration didn't lend a part in that call wouldn't be completely true either. I called and flipped up my aces, he mucked.
After that hand I was up to about 275. I rode this and tightened up a bit preflop. Then like an ass I decided to play my last two hands before I left. I limp with KJ os, button calls, sb makes it 10, like an ass I call so does the button. Flop is jack high with 2 spades. SB bets 20 and I raise to 50 to try and get an answer. The answer comes in the form of the button going all in. SB folds, as do I. I really think this was a push with a FD, but I didn't feel like taking that gamble. Last hand I play K7h UTG. Yes I'm an ass. 2 calls from the field including the button from the last hand. Flop is all hearts. I check and previous button guy bets 20 into a pot of 15. I call and another guy calls. Turn pairs the board which is a little scary but not tremndously so. I check again and this time the guy bets 60, way too big for a boat. I just call and the other guy (aka Ace of hearts guy) folds. River is another blank and I check. This was dumb. I should have made a value bet of about 50 and he's almost gotta call. Alas I did not and he checked behind. I took down the pot. Over finished at +115 which was a nice session. Sans a few mistakes and I could've done better. Maybe I can learn this game eventually.
Like I said, the pits were brutal later in the evening. Taking all those winnings and then some. It was still a good time and I managed to make myself feel much better about the pits on Saturday. Headed out with the wife, brother, and brother's fiancee to a Orgy of Meat , then to Philly's Oldest Tavern for an after dinner drink, followed by a completely unnessesary dessert of dipping things in melty chocolate . I spent Sunday in a food coma and I think I am now just waking up. By the time CHIMPS and the Dr Pauly Special , roll around on Tuesday, I should be recovered.
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