June Update

June Update

Ended up playing ~75 hours in June though that includes ~15 hrs while I was still in Vegas the first few days of the month. Return to MD Live was terrible as I quickly lost over 4k in 3 5/10 sessions. Nothing particularly crazy happened I just never seemed to win any pots. I did discuss this little nothing hand that generated a bit of disgreement:

5/10 with 1500 eff. I open red AA, 5 call Flop 789r, SB is playing on his phone starts to check, double checks his cards then bets 150.

Doesn't seem super interesting to me really. Solid 5/10 grinder is playing on phone, double takes this flop and then leads into 6 people. Seems like a fairly trivial fold to me though others disagreed and thought a peel was in order on the flop.

I also played this hand vs. a super gambly Asian tard. 

Weird 5/10 hand Villain gambly, older Asian...plays like 70/20...plays ATC pre but raises a much tighter range. Once he raises he never folds to a 3b. Overvalues strong hands that have weak relative value and does like him some bluffs but probably not just blasting off like crazy. Eff stacks 2k Villain opens 35 in HJ, I call AJ in CO, BTN calls, BB calls (Pot $145)Flop AJ9 BB ch, Villain ch, I bet $105, BTN and BB fold, Villain calls (Pot $355) Turn 8 He ch, I bet $225, He c/r to $625, I tank call. I think his range here is 99, QTs, TT, 9T, JT, A8s, A9s, AJ or the unlikely AA/JJ Turn call? (Pot $1605) River 2-He leads $925; I?

I called and got shown 99 in the face. Tanked for a bit on the river as his line is just sooooooooo soooooooo strong. But ultimately couldn't do it as I felt he could play A9, A8, and some bluffs like TT, 9T the same way.

So basically early in the month I ran like ass. Then for some reason I decided to grind 2/2 PLO and just never went back to NLHE (other than a few short sessions waiting for a seat). Played this hand versus a very well known older Asian player who is super aggro and typically plays 5/5 (which hasn't been running as much during the WSOP).

PLO time..not sure I like how I played this...Eff stacks $500 and it is 2/2 Main Villain is a 60-ish Korean dude who plays mostly 5/5 PLO which isn't running. His son is actually a very well known high-stakes baller and he is quite aggro, bets with virtually any equity and if checked to will almost always bet. He prob recognizes me as a decent winner but we haven't played a ton together. I just sat and open AQJ9 to 12 over a few limps, General calls on my left, 3 more call and we go to flop. Pot ~65 Flop KJ5 I lead 65, V calls all else fold. V's range here is dry flush draws, AK with a broadway, K5xx, J5xx and wraps. Pot ~195 Turn A Not sure I like what I did but what you got here?

In hindsight, leading flop makes this totally standard. I guess the question is whether bet/folding that flop is good or not...ran it by a few people and most said as played turn is standard bet/get it in...they were split on flop bet being good or not. Anyway he had QT and I bricked my FH draws.

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I did play a fun big pot where I was a winner the other night though! Few limps and I make it $15 with KTQ9 on the button, SB calls, 2 others call and we go to flop 4 handed. Effective stacks with SB Villain are like $900

(Pot ~$65) Flop KT6 Checks to me and I bet 60; SB then c/r to 265, folds back to me and I tank call. 

(Pot $595) Turn K BOOOOM! He checks and I check back. I think his range on the flop is sets, big draws like wraps, etc. With basically a pot-sized bet left I guess I should bet to get value out of his drawing hands. 

(Pot $595) 4 He pots, I go all in for the remaining $35 and he calls and shows 66xx. 

So I coolered the shit out of him but I think his river bet is super spewy. I got lucky that he had the hand he had and he played it really poorly on the end. His hand is a bluff catcher really and given that no draws got there I can't call much of a bet. I mean if the draw gets there and he wants to b/f $250 that seems way better to me. 

Anyway all added up to a relatively profitable month. July I am going to play a bunch of events in the MD Live Summer Series. These are the ones I am planning on playing:

Event 1 $300 NLHE RE (1 entry plus 1 re-entry) Event 5 $500 NLHE Bounty Event 7 $240 Omaha 8/Stud 8 Event 9 $250 PLO8 Event 10 $350 PLO Bounty Event 14 $1,100 NLHE Event 15 $500 NLHE Event 17 $2,200 NLHE Main Total BI $5,740

I'll take a little run good if anyone wants to ship it to me!

Vegas Trip Report

As I said in the previous post,  I won (chopped really) Venetian Event 12 for $16.5k.  First was $24k, 2nd was a bit less than $15k and 5th was only $5.9k when we made the deal.  I was fine playing it out as I felt I was the best player remaining, though there were 2 other decent players too.  And, of course, I had over 40% of the chips in play.  But logic told me to take the deal as my ICM was ~$15.7k.  They initially offered me $16k but I said I needed $16.5k and they quickly agreed.  Think I got a good deal.

Basically I came back to Day 2 with like 8th most chips out of 33.  I had a really good table draw as I had a really passive woman on my direct left and the spew box chip leader 2 to my left.  So while he had a lot of chips, he was truly terrible and no threat to put me in any tough spots.  I quickly ran my 150k stack up busting 2 short stacks and winning a big pot vs. the chip leader described above and had in excess of 300k. I was 3b a ton and floating, putting a lot of pressure, etc. and picking up a ton of chips without showdown. In fact, during the time it took to go from 33 to the 24 pay level I doubled my stack and was chip leader once we were in the money.  Here is a fun one where I actually cold 4b jammed and picked up 65k or so in chips:

Folds to HJ who opens to 12k at 2,500/5k/500a, CO calls, BTN then 3b to 32k with like 70k behind.  I am in the SB with ~400k+ and I wake up with AQ.  We are like 2 away from the cash so I figure their calling ranges are super tight.  BTN is a competent, observant player so I think he can squeeze with a lot more than just premium hands.  So I rip it in.  HJ and C/O fold rather quickly and BTN tanks a bit and folds 99 face up.  Just standard big stack poker but felt easy and just picked spots really well.

Finally we got the final table and I had just under $1M at 6/12,000/2ka level.  Pretty deep stacks really. Average was probably around 450k but me and another dude represented ~2/3 of the chips in play. Obviously this means the remaining 8 players only had about 1.2M between them.  Several shortstacks busted and we got 5 handed right before dinner break.  At this point the stacks had flattened out a bit though I had increased my stack to ~1.25M.  The next biggest stacks were ~700k and the 2 shortstacks had about 400k or so each.  I ran the numbers at dinner and although I wasn't really going to ask for a deal I was prepared to listen.  Had pretty much decided if I could get more than my ICM (which was considerably more than 2nd) I would likely take it.  Deal was offered to me at $16k, I responded I needed $16.5k and they snap accepted (probably could have squeezed a few more $$ out of it).  So with the biggest stack I was officially the winner of the event and obv got the most cash.  FWIW, the 2 shortstacks really took a terrible deal IMO.  The breakout was :

16.5k, 14.75k, 14.75k, 9k, 9k

Essentially they took between 3rd and 4th place money to lock it up with no ability to ladder up at all.  They were pretty fishy and clearly had no concept of ICM which I had calculated for them as being ~11k.  The two middle stacks clearly got the best of it IMO.

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Anyway, I busted the Millionaire Maker in rather undramatic fashion.  I got short and ended up having to shove 10bb at the 75/150 level...here was a quick recap I did for a few people that had bought small pieces of me:

Quote:

Lost hand 30 min in T9 flop A99 ch to me in LP I bet 250 into 300. 1 call. Turn 5 I bet 600 into 800 he call. River J he weak leads 400. I tank a bit and call...K2 Then 10mins later I turned straight, rivered a flush on paired board and paid off small to rivered boat of 9T4K9ddd. I had QJdd. So basically was down to like 2k chips in first level. Grinder to middle level 4 (75/150). Shoved 10BB BTN with KQo...BB said he had his favorite hand and I knew it was over JT>KQ

Hand 1 the river is a fold.  Just didn't do it.  Hand 2 not sure I can ever fold in that hand.  Hand 3 I obviously want that call with 10BB left.
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Didn't play anymore MTTs and played mostly the 1/2/5 PLO game at the Venetian.  Game was very good with a $1k buy-in and probably 50% of the hands having a $10 BTN straddle it played more like a 5/10 PLO game (or at least a 5/5 game).  Didn't play a ton of memorable pots as I won a ton without showdown. Did win this hand which illustrated the value of position:

Quote:

Flop was K56r and ABC nit led into 4 people. His range is KKxx here most of time IMO. I had 3467. I considered raising but we were 500+ BB deep and I think on certain runouts I can win unimproved. Turn was J and he pots again I now know he has KKxx for sure. Pot was like $600-ish with 900 effective behind. River was 9 he check...I bet $425 and he puke folds. Right player, right spot, in position, etc.

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So it was a profitable trip for sure.

Cash games +$3.5k
MTTs ~+$12.8k
Expenses ~-$2.5k

Will be playing a bit of cash at MD Live over the next week as my wife and kids are out of town.  Probably going to use this newfound cash to try and stick at 5/10.  I have beat 2/5 rather handily over a pretty sizable sample (in excess of 750 hrs).  I will play lower, however, if 5/10 isn't good or I just want to relax and not grind it as hard.  We'll see how it progresses.

Won a small one

Won a small field at Venetian on Thursday/Friday. Was a $500 buy in with ~225 entrants. Actually we did a five way deal when I had over 40% of the chips in play. They offered me $16.5k which was $2k more than second place money and $1k more than my ICM (essentially my equity in the remaining prize pool) and I decided it was too good a deal to turn down. I got the trophy too :)

Will post more details later when I am back in Charm City.