My table has only one young gun at it. Who knows how good he is. He is in Seat 9 and I am in Seat 6. Not the best. Two old guys to my left though, always a plus. Tables are still being filled as the cards fly, but soon, except for Seat 10, our table is filled.
I play pretty solid for a couple of orbits to get a line on the players. I call a raise from middle position with 66 OTB. Flop is KK2. He c-bets, I fold. Not getting frisky yet. I raise in ep and Button calls. He’s a guy who appears very straightforward. I whiff the flop and he calls my cbet. We both ck the turn. He comes out betting the river and I fold. Drifting down…just like Saturday.
My Seat 9 guy is pretty aggro and appears good. Too bad. He is finally joined in Seat 10 by another young gun. We’ll see.
I raise UTG with
and Seat 9 calls. Flop is 
. I cbet 300 into a 750 pot and he raises me to 900. Hmmm. I call. Turn is the 
, definitely NOT a nice card. I check, and he checks behind. River is a blank. I check again, but he doesn’t try to bluff at it. Must have a middle pair. I flip up my AK and TID. OK, I’m MR. NIT. It has been confirmed. Just like I want it to be.We’re on to Level 2; 75-150. Everyone is betting like 2.5x but I’m still at 3x. Hope that makes me look clueless. A lot of talk about other events, Venetian coming up, yada yada. Sounds like the typical talk of a bunch of players that want to appear better than they are. Seat 9 isn’t joining the conversation.
I raise HJ+1 with TT and Seat 9 in the SB calls. Flop is Qxx rainbow. I cbet and get raised—he raised 2.5x my bet. OK let’s see. He saw me play very timidly with TPTK. This could just be a move. Plus I have position. Plus he is laggy. I call. Turn is an Ace. He checks. OK lets try to figure this out. He could have a Q or JJ. He’s very unlikely to have an Ace, but I guess he could have AQ. Not likely. Now if I check then I have to call him on the river for sure. And he gets to shape the bet. But if I bet now then I get to shape the bet. So I bet, about 40% of the pot. If he raises then I’m folding. I really don’t see him raising…I expect a call and maybe, unlikely, a fold. Anyway he calls. OK he probably has a Queen. The river is a blank and he checks. I check behind and he flips up KK. “That’s good.” OK he’s laggy AND tricky.
I raise ep with
. Seat 9 calls. Flop is three babies. I ck/fold. Not even a backdoor. Just give it up. Seat 10 limps ep and the lady to my right in the CO limps. She’s 40ish, very slick with the cards, and trying hard to let everyone know how good she is. Too hard. Pleasant enough but talking about “The Circuit” etc. Sounds like her husband/boyfriend is a good player. Who knows. I looked her up in Hendon mob and she has a few small cashes. Not a single WSOP cash.
I look down and see
. I could certainly call here, but since I’m OTB I’m raising. I raise 5x to 750. The old guys in the blinds fold, but one of them inadvertently flips up his cards, 
. Seat 10 folds and the Lady makes a big flourish of tossing 
into the muck. I tell her how disappointed I am that those cards got exposed. She patronizingly explains to me that she had to fold since she only now had one out. "Oh really." 
Seat 10 calls a late position raise with K7s. He calls a cbet on a Kxx and it gets checks down. OK he’s a confirmed lag. And I figure he’s itching to run over me and the other old fogies at the table.
Seat 8 limps UTG and I raise in the SB with AJo. Flop is KJx. I bet, he calls. Turn is a blank. I bet again and he folds.
I’m playing very focused and very serenely. Sometimes you just get in The Zone. I’m in it and loving it. I’ve nailed down all the players, which ones only fire one barrel, which ones fire two, which are the stubborn chasers and which are timid. Sometimes poker can feel so good. I took a nap before this one started and I really feel ready to go Deep.
I get QQ and win the blinds. Yuck. I get KJo and win the blinds. Nice. I’m still down from the starting stack. I’ve got about 10K now as we near the first break. We are playing 100/200.
UTG now and see my boys,
, for the first time. I raise to 600 and Seat 10 reraises to 1750. OK let’s get a plan. This guy is laggy and trying to build a stack. I figure his range is pretty wide. So I’m just going to smooth call and take a flop. By 3betting here he might play perfectly, but by calling I’ve underrepped my hand and I may just get him to double me up. Also, I have an awkward stack to 3bet here. What do I do? But if I just call and he cbets the flop, well now my stack size is perfect....Flop:
. Nice flop! Overpair and two backdoors. I check, He bets just a tad less than half the pot: 1800. I’ve got 8050 remaining. “I’m all in.” I'm by no means certain that I'm ahead. He could have AA, QQ, or TT for that matter. But against his range...well I'm a healthy favorite. He remains pretty stoic but he’s thinking. OK, kind sir, please call because you are definitely way behind. He doesn’t think too long and finally calls. Actually he might call me fairly light since my line here is consistent with a draw.
Him
. Yippee. Got him. Turn is 
...yes, now the 
does him no good...he's down to four outs. River is
. Oops. Chris you are headed to the showers early today. So sad. But I’m not really sad. I’m happy with my play. And I get the rest of the day off to go do chores. Such a deal.
That’s poker. I am disappointed because I felt I was really rolling. But you still have to avoid the beats.
Next time! Tomorrow...Friday. Either playing Orleans or Venetian. Haven’t decided yet. Things are heating up…..WSOP just around the corner. Yes!
Chris
News
Site map
SitemapIndex
