Timing is Everything
In nearly every session I play the net profit or loss usually comes from a couple of big hands and how they play out. I could get dealt the best hand every time, but if no one else has a good hand to play with me I’m never going to make any real money. Ideally I try to find the two to three loosest players at the table and target them to play pots with. The idea is that I’m generally going to have the best of it against them, and they will be willing to put money in the pot while I am ahead of them. I’m not treading new ground here with this strategy, it’s just common sense. Sometimes this game plan goes exactly how I want it to, sometimes not so much. My sessions in the last week have been a perfect example of how picking up big hands against the loose players either bites you in the ass or pays off huge.
I went to play last Monday hoping to get into a 2/5 game. There was one going but I only got to play for a couple hours before it converted down to a 1/2 game because of guys leaving the game to play the HPT tournament. My one big hand in the session was getting my AA cracked by a JT that made a flush for about $550 against the loosest player at the table. So much for going according to plan. Of course at this point I didn’t want to convert it down to 1/2, because I as already stuck $900 and knew getting $900 back in a 1/2 game was going to be more than difficult. I did fair better in the 1/2 game making up a couple hundred of what I lost earlier through picking up lots of small pots with continuation bets and semi-bluffs. Still went home with a decent loss for the night and was glad that I had plans the next couple of days.
I had been looking forward to playing again by the time Friday rolled around, however while at work that day I wasn’t sure it was going to be the best idea. I woke up with a bit of a head cold and had a box of tissues attached to me most of the day. At one point against my better judgment I decided to try some medicine to clear up my sinuses. For any of you who read the Walmart story on here know that I don’t have a long or fun history with Sudafed, but I took some anyway. It actually did a decent job this time, but by the time I left I was feeling congested again. I was starting to think playing was going to be a bad idea. I decided a little head cold wasn’t gonna stop me, who knows maybe playing sick would be a good thing like Jordan vs the Jazz right?
I was delusional. I got right into the 2/5 game and within an hour ahd lost my original buy in. An hour later I was stuck two buy-ins after running my pair of tens into AQ on a QQ5 board (against the second loosest player in the game) and I wasn’t feeling well at all. I was about to call it a night since I didn’t feel focused and didn’t feel like I was playing anywhere close to my best, but I decided to take a break and buy back in one last time because the table was just too good to pass up.
I rebought and then took a walk. I made a couple phone calls, ran to the restroom, got a drink and just wondered around for a few minutes trying to clear my head. Once I felt a little better I went back to my seat and got to work. Things started working out better for me. I got nice value from the nut straight against a guy in a multiway pot, and pretty quickly I was back to around $750 when the following pot occurred.
A loose aggressive player raised to $30.00 in first position, he was called by the next 3 players before it was my turn to act. I looked down at a pair of kings. My first instinct was to raise since I obviously didn’t want to play KK against at least 5 players, but on the other hand just flatting gives me a lot of deception value. I would have to be willing to dump the hand on the flop if the texture of the board wasn’t right. It’s a higher risk/reward approach but without a preflop 3-bet no one is putting me on KK for sure. So I just called. Then things got worse… two players behind me call, the button (older guy who likes to overplay hands) looks at his hand and looks at the money in the pot and you can tell he is thinking raise. He fumbles around with his chips for about 30 seconds before flat calling. I was actually hoping he would raise so I could come back over the top. The small blind folds and BB calls. So I take KK into a 9 person pot for $30 a person preflop. I suddenly hated my decision to flat the preflop raise even more.
On the bright side, the flop couldn’t have been more perfect. K52 rainbow, I flop the best hand possible at the time. Checks to the preflop raiser who bets $70, and is insta called by the extremely loose player behind him. The next 2 players fold and now action is on me. Now I was debating a raise or another flat call. I think the UTG player has a big yet smaller pair and was just betting to get a feel for where he was at, the call from teh guy behind him had me slightly worried he was on a straight draw. I also knew the guy on the button liked the flop based on how he was stacking chips to put into the middle. I decide to start building the pot and raised to $270, leaving me about $410 in front of me. Action folded to the button and he snapped called my raise. The initial raiser mumbled and mucked, and the loose guy behind him folded too.
Turn was a 6, which meant 43 got there but I know the button doesn’t have that because he wanted to raise preflop. At this point I’m putting him on AK. The pot at this point was a little over 1k, so I easily shove my last 400 in and he calls. River was a 2 filling me up and he mucks his hand when I showed KK. UTG told me he had TT and the guy behind him thanked me for raising him off his 65 because he would have made two pair and I would have stacked him too. I’m not going to worry about lost value in an $1800 dollar pot. Now I had doubled up from what I had invested in the game. and was feeling pretty good.
I pick up a couple other small pots and am sitting at just over 2k when I played the largest pot I had ever been involved with at this casino. I’m first to act and look down at pocket queens. I make a fairly standard opening raise to $25. Action folded around to ODB who called my raise. ODB (yes as in Ol’ Dirty Bastard) is the kind of guy that makes live poker so much better than online. He is an older guy who has a million stories and jokes, and pretty much never shuts up. In his defense he is pretty funny, and he keeps the table in a good mood most of the time. He is also pretty loose and gives lots of action, so you want him at your table for the play as well as the entertainment. I enjoy playing with him quite a bit even though occasionally he will put a bad beat on me. It folds around to the small blind where Shiva the Poker God of Destruction raises to $100. I’ve played with Shiva quite a bit over the last two years and we know each others play styles really well. He knows I’m not raising light UTG, and I know he isn’t 3 betting me light either. His range here is AA/KK/QQ(unlikely)/AK with an outside possibility of it being JJ/TT. On a rare occasion he might make this play trying to get me to lay the best hand down so he can get heads up with ODB, but I didn’t feel that was the case. I was 50/50 on a call or fold here and took some time to decide.
All three of us had similarly sized stacks with me barely having more chips than Shiva and I had ODB covered by about $400. I figured playing this deep I can set mine or try to outplay Shiva post flop and I knew that if I called I was going to get ODB coming along so the pot was going to be worth it. I called, and ODB complained that now he has to call too because I did. With $305 in the pot preflop the three of us braced for the action that was about to unfold.
The flop came Qd, 7c, 6c and action was on Shiva. He didn’t hesitate long before he lead out for $240. I took my time to decide what to do with top set this time. I know Shiva isn’t betting $240 at that flop with AK unless it was suited in clubs and he had the nut flush draw so my range on his possible holdings dropped down to AA/KK. After the last hand where I flopped top set and raised I decided to take the alternate route and call. I took about a minute and a half to make my decision, ODB beat me into the pot with his call and we went to the turn with $1025 sitting in the middle of the table.
The turn was the A of diamonds and I instantly turn my attention to Shiva to see his reaction. If he did hold AA he just crushed my hand, so I was looking for something to tell me what he had. He looked a little displeased with the card, and he thought about it for nearly a minute before checking. If he had AA he could have been putting on a good acting job so i still wasn’t entirely comfortable with the A hitting. I had slow played the flop, so I wasn’t changing my strategy now and checked to ODB. ODB instantly fires $300 at the pot and Shiva goes into the tank. I liked this because I was going to know based on his play if he had AA or KK. Turns out he had KK and he tossed his hand into the muck. This made my play extremely easy. I shoved my last $1600 in and ODB thinks for about 30 seconds as a crowd gathered around the table. He finally says he has to call and he sticks the rest of his stack in. I show my set of Queens, he shows me Ac3c for top pair and the nut flush draw. Not the hand I want to see there since it gave him several outs to win the pot. On the river the board paired when a 7 hit and I scooped the largest pot I ever played in that room. Shiva started giving me shit for snapping his KK and asking if I needed help stacking the chips. He even took a pic… for those unfamiliar with the chips the reds are $5 and the greens are $25. Each stack of red chips there is $200.
While that was the majority of the excitement for the night, I won a couple other nice pots. Once with 99 on a 952 flop I was lead into by A9 (top pair/top kicker), but he got away from it when I tossed out a small raise when the board paired a deuce on the turn. A little while later Chemical Al showed up. I’m not sure why he has that nickname, but if I had to guess it’s because he looks like he is on meth half the time. He likes to gamble though and overplays hands all the time and constantly bluffs at pots. As soon as he sat down he eyed my stack and started running his mouth at me because I folded the first two pots he played. He was trying to bait me into playing a pot with him, the best part is he doesn’t get that table talk has zero effect on me. I was just waiting for the exact opportunity he was asking for. Sure enough I played a pot with him shortly after he started running his mouth.
I limped a 9d8d in the small blind and flopped top two pair on a 982 board. There were two clubs, plus the obvious straight draws so I lead right out for $20 into the $25 dollar pot. I pick up two callers and Al popped it to $70. I had no intention of slow playing here because my hand is out drawn way to easily. I reraised to $220 and the other two guys fold before Al shoves in all of his stack. Roughly $600 or so and I didn’t even need a count. I was positive I had him beat and snap called. Turn brought a 7 finishing the straight, and the river was a Kc finishing the flush. I flopped over my two pair and he mucked his hand. A few hands later after he rebought he raised preflop and I called him with 88. Flop was AA2 and it checked around, on the turn another A hit the board and I checked to Al to let him act, he fired $55 at the pot just like I figured he would and I called. On the river another small card came and I checked to him hoping to induce a bluff. He checked behind and I had to flip my 88 up first and he mucked. I had taken over $700 off him now in two hands and he finally stopped running his mouth. Not much later I racked up the largest win I’ve had in that room with a 5k swing over the course of a couple hours, great timing on big hands. In an odd twist, the extra weight from the money was pulling my pants down, so I had to tighten up my belt. Most people tighten their belts when they don’t have money, not when they have an abundance.
I went back for more on Saturday…
I had to sit at a 1/2 waiting for 2/5 seat to open and I went on a silly rush the first 3 hands.
6c5c > 4c2c on an all club flop, I stack the guy. Next hand vs the same guy I beat his AA with AK on a KKQJx board. And the third hand I won with a flush when my Qh7h beat AQ who shoved on me with top pair. Three hands and I was up $330 and change. Two hands later I was called over to 2/5.
I moved over to the 2/5 game on a freeroll thanks to 1/2, but the game was much tamer tonight. They was a main game and a feeder game and I was on the main while most the action was on the feeder. There was one guy I didn’t know at the main game that turned out to be a truck driver from Kentucky who made a living transporting cattle. He and I butted heads all night and it was a lot of fun getting the best of him.
The first hand with him was a hand where there was a straddle and a ton of limpers and I had AQ on the button. I limp too not wanting to raise that field even with position. Flop was A93, with two hearts. It checks to me and I fire $30 at it. Every folds except KY the cattle guy. Turn was a jack, and I didn’t like that card much since AJ is easily a limp calling hand there for passive players. He checked and I bet small ($60) for a combination of value and to see if he hit the J or not. He thinks for a bit and just calls. About the only card I wanted to see on the river came when an off suit Q fell giving me top two pair. He checked, I fired out a $100 hoping to get value and he called. As he mucked all disgusted he said “you needed that Queen” to which I shrugged my sholders and stacked the chips. He starts relaying his bad beat to The Rock and No Nut (long story I’ll tell another time) who were sitting to his right. He was telling them he had AK and had me trapped, etc etc… I just smiled to myself and was happy he played his hand so poorly. He kept bitching, I didn’t say anything. The Rock decided to feed into his bitching by telling him I’m a millionaire that won the hot lotto a couple years ago and now I never fold till the river and I’m a showdown player. No Nut and the Rock are laughing about this hysterically, I just smile and kept to myself.
A little later I limped with 22 and a flop came 9c5d2d. No Nut checked, the Rock fired out $25 and cattle boy raised him to $50. I had seen him raise several draws at this point, so I put him on a draw and decided to just flat and hope for no diamond to hit. No Nut calls and the Rock folds. The three of us go to the turn where the Ac hits and No Nut checked again, and this time KY fires $75 with a ton of confidence. He liked the A, and I wasn’t exactly sure why. I had him on a draw and the only one that helped was 43, which was beating my set currently. I also know that No Nut can show up here with that hand out of the small blind so I just flat him again. No Nut folds, and we go heads up to the river where a ten hits. This time KY fired $200 at the pot. Great, if he was on a draw the only one that misseed was diamonds, both straights got there, so I couldn’t do anything but call him. He showed A9 with a ton of pride and I flipped over my set to scoop another pot from him. This time he started itching even more about me being a suck out artest. I dont’ care, because I’m stacking his chips, but he seriously wouldn’t shut up about it, for the next hour he says something every single hand.
I played one more pot with him where I had KQs and had AT. On a JTx flop he bet $25 and I called. The turn was another small card and he bet $50, I came along. River was a K and I thought about betting because I felt like I was good, but decided he was so pissed at me hemight try and buy it so i checked to him and he waited a little bit before checking. He showed his AT and I flipped up my KQ and put my tip for the dealer on the cards and started scooping the pot. After watching me stack his chips for a 3rd time you could see the steam coming out of the guys ears.
He decide’s its time to move across the table and sit just to my left. So he comes over and instantly starts talking a ton of shit to me. I’ve lost a lot more hands where I’ve been sucked out on, most the time I just say nice hand and move on. This guy just couldn’t take losing at all. I wasn’t talking, gloating, or doing anything to push him either. Then he finally pissed me off enough to get me to say something. He sticks a dollar chip out, slides it over and tells me I should go buy a lottery ticket. I said “Why, so I can see if my set still beats two pair, or was that lucky too?”. Then he started bumbling over his words and brings up the supposed AK hand again. This time I tell him, “You know when you trap with one pair, there is a good chance you end up trapping yourself” which is exactly what he actually had AK to begin with which I don’t really believe. Then I told him “If you put me on two pair like you claimed, why did you pay me off?” and he just said that he needed to see how bad I was. Then I got to joking with the Rock about being a hot lotto winner which just pissed the guy off even more. No Nut and I are buying each other drinks, and having a good time. KY was still just trying to push my buttons… with no result as I was just having fun messing with the guy since he wouldn’t shut up.
A little while later KY raised preflop and No Nut called him with QJ. The flop came Q high with a couple of small cards and they get it in for about $250 each, and No Nut scoops the pot. As KY leaves he punches the back of my chair and says “I’ll see you later suckout artist”. I’m not sure if he was threatening me or not, but I just looked at everyone and laughed about what a little bitch that guy was being. He was a bigger baby than Lebron James after losing to Orlando. We had fun sitting around shorthanded and playing for a bit, but no real big hands the rest of the night. I cashed out just under 2k in the game and that brought my weekend total up over 5k in about 24 hours of play. The timing of my big hands against the bad players was great this weekend.
On Sunday I rested, but I did stop to pick up a lottery ticket in KY’s honor.