Latest Texas Hold’em Experience
So I went to Atlantic City a few days ago, here are just a few things that happened, and what I learned for my own reference.
I sat at my usual $1/$2 blind table for no-limit Texas Hold’em. A few minutes later, a friend of mine was sitting at my table; I wanted to make sure I’d avoid playing against him and taking each other’s money. It was a mutual understanding that we would not bluff each other and basically tell the other by betting to get out of a hand. Anyways, the first hour or two was really bad, I was not able to catch anything. I went through my initial buy-in and did two rebuys of my initial amount of $140 before I finally got going. I was not catching any hands at all and was down to $25 before I had to go all-in with A/10 offsuit, where I was called against someone with A/J and lost. During my second buy-in, I was doing alright and there was a hand where my friend pushed all-in for $25 preflop. I looked down at my cards to see pocket Js, so I had to call. However, another player after me did a milk reraise of $25 on top, which I had to call. The flop came to a bunch of low cards, where I then checked, knowing that if he had a high pocket pair he would bet, and he fired a $40 bet a me. After contemplating for 30 seconds, I decided to fold, and he flipped pocket Qs. Luckily, my friend had K/Q, and a King came on the river and kept him alive. I lost the remaining of my first buy-in when I had pocket 2s and the flop came 6-6-2. I checked in order to trap someone and I did, where someone put out a solid bet and then I re-raised all-in. I was called against pocket Ks, which I was ahead. Unfortunately, the river card was another 6, so the pocket Ks won with a better full house than me (6s over Ks against my 6s over 2s).
Finally, my 3rd buy-in was where I got going. I won a solid pot when I flopped a flush with 9-J spades with a board of 10-2-8 all spades; so I was doing pretty good with a straight flush draw also. I decide to check the flop, where nobody else bet, and then turn was another 10. Because of the potential trips on the board, I decided to bet, and got called. The river came to be a 2, so there was a full house on the board if my opponent had a 10 or a 2. The guy comes out with a $40 bet. Contemplating on whether to call, I looked at several factors. If he had top pair, why did he not bet the flop? It is very likely that another higher card would come out, or that another spade is possibly coming. Many players would like to put a solid bet out there in order to weed out the people fishing for a straight/flush/over card. Then, when the turn came, a 10, how come he did not raise when I bet? If he would have a 10, he should raise since it is likely he would be ahead at the time with the 10 pairing. However, he did not bet, and after the river came, I did not place him on a 2 either, since he likely would have folded with only a pair of 2s. So in the end, I decided to call him, and he was only trying to bluff the hand, and I win with a flush even though there are two pairs on the board. Phew.
So another hand comes a little later, where I have pocket As. I re-raise as there was already a raise on the board. The guy two people over calls, and I knew him as a very tight player, so I figured he at least had pocket Js or AK. The flop came to low cards, and he comes out betting. Figuring he would not call a re-raise with a medium pocket pair, his bet made me place him on Qs or Ks. I decided to call the bet, and the next card was another low card. The player then bet again, and I decided to re-raise him all-in. Sure enough, he calls, and flips over pocket Ks. The river was meaningless and I won the pot.
After leaving the table, I was up around $25, and decided to join the midnight tournament with a few of my friends. I played decently, but was not used to a live tournament play-style, where people would raise all-in often. I had a solid stack and survived for a bit, but I had a hand where I lost probably 4/5 where I called a decent sized all-in with A-K suited, but then another player re-raises all-in also, so I was stuck in the middle to call. I was against 8-9 and A-10, and of course, A-10 beats me. Doh. A few hands later I got pocket 5s, pushed all-in, and the guy who won that prior pot called me with A-K, and HE hits the King, bah. So I was out.
I decided to return to the cash tables and had a good run through them. I had A-Q one hand with a flop that had both A and Q. The player bet and I just called to see if I could trap them. Then the turn showed another A, so I had the best hand. I decide to check to see if the other player would bet, and he decided to push all-in, where I then called in less than a second. He had A-J, and it was just an unlucky time to hit trips. A good play that was not in favor of me was when I had A-J, raised to $10, where the other played re-raised 20 more, so I call. Flop is Q-10-10; checks around, turn is a K, so I have a straight, he checked and I check the straight. River is another Q, and he places a $50 bet out there. After thinking a while, I decide to call, bad timing, he had pocket Qs and hit quad Qs, ouch. I should of figured that player would trap me, I know he knows me and I know him, I’ve seen him play a lot when I would visit Atlantic City.
In the end, I was still up a few hundred, so it was not a total loss, till next time…
