MGM Grand Detroit TR

I was in Detroit this week for work. I was at Greektown earlier in the week but did not have enough time to play there. Wednesday night I was able to get in a short session at the new MGM Grand. It has been open almost a year now. I don't know where their old location was. This place was immaculate. The poker room is on the 3rd floor. You take an elevator from the main gaming area to get there. It shares the floor with a night club. Being there in a Wednesday evening there was not much going on in the club.

I got there around 5pm and was able to get in a 50-300 game which was 1/2. I bought in for the full 300 and played fairly snug for the first hour. I limped into a number of pots but was never able to connect. The first key hand was when I was on the button with A,7ss and limped after 3 other limpers. The SB raised to 12. He had been doing this a lot. If it was ever limped to him on the button or SB or BB he raised to 12. His range was very wide in this spot. Numerous times I saw him check fold the flop after doing this. It looked like he was stuck in the game and just wanted to bloat the pot up in case he hit something. It was folded back to be and I called. Flop comes A,K,5. He leads for $20 and I call. Here is where I think I made the mistake in the hand, I should have min-raised here to define my hand and try to figure out what he had. By just calling in this spot I had no additional information. The turn was a 2. He leads for $40 and I just call again. Another mistake for me here as I still have no information. I think its a raise or fold in this spot. The river pairs the 5. I think this is a great card. Two pair and I do not need to worry about the kicker. He shoves for $106 and I have a pretty easy call. He turns over the 5,4 off for rivered trips. Shit. Horrid play by him but I really played the hand badly. A raise on the flop or turn and I can get him to fold. After that hand I was down to $36.

As is always the case I get A,A the very next hand. There was a raise to $15 in front of me and I shoved. He called and had J,J. Flop comes with an Ace and I get the double. After that hand I won the next four in a row and had my stack back to $180. After about an hour of not much happening and seeing the guy to my left blow all of the money he won off of me, he decided to start raising again.

The next big hand I am in the small blind with A,2 off and there are 3 limpers to me. I limp and now the BB raises to $5 everyone calls and I have had enough of this shit and raise to $52. The BB insta-calls and everyone folds. His quick call really doesn't mean too much here I don't think. Flop comes K,x,xdd. I decide to check and he shoves for another $120 or so. I fold what I said was QQ. He turned over KdQd. After that hand I was down to around $80 or so.

The last big hand of the session came when I limped with 8c6c. We see the flop 6 handed and it comes out 5,4,2cc. It gets checked around. Turn is am off-suit J. One of the blinds leads for $15 and a SAG lady who was in the first hand after she sits calls and I call. The river is a perfect 3c. The blind leads for $15 again and the SAG lady raises to $40. I shove for my last $46 and the blind says "I knew my two pair were no good". Duh! The SAG calls and shows A,4 off. Nice value raise with the idiot end of the straight. If I had more money I wonder what I could have extracted from her. I probably would have raised to $80 or so and I KNOW she would have called.

After the three hour session or so I left with $169 for a $131 loss. Not a great session by any means but I was fairly satisfied after being down to my last $36 and $55 during the session.