Friday, January 6, 2012

What if you gave a party and no one came?

Above: Noodles is a nice little Asian restaurant at the Horseshoe Casino. It's open on weekends.

I went to the 7 p.m. Wednesday poker tournament at the Horseshoe. This is a deep stack that is one of my favorites. Only eight runners signed up and it was cancelled -- boo! I've never seen this before, so I asked another player and she said she hadn't either. Once in a while a daytime tournament doesn't get enough interest, but never at night. I guess all the holiday weekend tourists went home, although there were plenty of cash games going on.

I jumped on the list for $1/3 no limit and they immediately started a new table. It was soft and I had doubled up by the time they called my name to move to one of the regular games. My big hand was when I saw 5 5 in the big blind. A guy from under the gun bet $13 and got one caller. Presto is gold, so I called, too. The flop was Q-9-5. I'd have rather seen A-9-5. I checked and the original raiser bet $35 and the other guy called. I had about $135 left, so moved all in and they both called! The turn was a jack and the river a rag. I showed my set and scooped the pot.

I moved to the (one of the) main game and had one other big hand. I had watched a guy at the first table raise and later show ace-rag. At the new table he raised to $13 and I was on the button with A K. I could re-raise, but elected just to call.

The flop was A 7 4. The villain bet $25 and I raised to $60. He thought for a while and called. What do I know? He has an ace, for sure, and probably not two pair (although he could be getting tricky). Can you say "kicker problem?" The turn was a rag and I bet $70 and he called. The river put three spades on the board and the villain bet $25. WTF? I know I'm a wuss, but I just called and he showed ace-rag, just like I knew he had, but not two pair or a flush.

After playing for a little more than two hours, I was up two buy-ins, and decided to call it a night. Less variance in ca$h games than tournaments, for sure.

9 comments:

  1. ahem, there's a Noodles restaurant at Foxwoods too.

    Congrats on the cash!

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  2. should have raised river. No way he has the flush since YOU have the As.

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  3. @Josie: There are Noodles out in Vegas, too.

    @Matt: Correct. Also, if he hit a flush, even a baby flush, he would bet more than $25.

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  4. You have conquered the tournament world and are now looking to add cash games to your kingdom?

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  5. I disagree on raising the river. Yes, he put out a defensive bet to lower his cost of a showdown, but that also means he was very unlikely to call a raise.

    So considering that the most you could squeeze out of him was very little with respect to the pot, raising loses EV in other ways.

    1. It gives him a chance to make another move, and you don't really want to be in that position.

    2. It denies you a table image precedent that you can use later if you want to make a move in a similar situation.

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  6. Reading some of your posts is like trying to read Elizabethan English. I know it's English but I haven't a freaking clue what you're talking about! :-))

    Do you think there are Poker dictionaries?

    Sounds like you made a little money. That's always a good thing. Kudos to you. You could use it to buy some film but most of us don't use film anymore.

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  7. Thank you for your very nice compliment! Made my day!

    I don't shop here, either...I guess I could if I watched their sales, but they sell mostly suits, sport coats, dress shirts, etc., and I don't wear those things anymore!

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  8. Nice job on your cash games. Always nice to flop a set and get two people calling your push and not having to dodge two many outs.

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