Live Poker!!!
Went to an actual casino today. I was passing through Western Massachusetts so I stopped into MGM Springfield. Games that were being offered were $1/$2 NLHE, $2/$2 PLO, and $3/$6 LHE. I put my name on the list for the $1/$2 game, hoping to draw a table of all OMCs. Did not happen, but I did get seated at a brand new table and I did strategically seat myself to the left of the old guy there who I pegged as an OMC and away we went.
Table actually was pretty tough. A lot of pots got taken down preflop and there were very few limped pots. People played mostly tight but weren't shy about putting bets and raises in either. There were no loosey goosey sandwich eaters I'm afraid. I start with $100 in front of me with the plan of playing conservative/wise. Here's how it went:
First hand I get to play K♥J♥ in the BB with 1 limper. A middle aged guy who was appearing to play tight and usually raised but limped this time. Thought about raising but I'm OOP here and don't want to bloat the pot. Flop comes A♦Q♣J♦ and I check. He bets $10 into $4. Very strange as that did not appear to hit his range and I figure to have some equity with a pair plus a draw. But it's bottom pair and a gutshot and I can't call a 2x pot bet. I guess he has Ax a lot of times here, or maybe something like Q♦T♦? Or maybe QJ or KT and trying to end the hand. Perhaps he was just trying to buy it. I dunno, I can't call either way. So I muck that one.
A little bit later pick up 66 OTB. An EP player makes it $7 and 2 people call. I didn't really bring enough money to set mine but with the raise plus two callers I figure I'm getting a good price so I throw in the $7. However, SB comes over the top for $35 total, the original raiser and the two callers drop and it's back to me. He looked like an internet kid but had been playing as tight as I was. Still, I couldn't help but think maybe he was trying to set up that image to make a move in a spot like this. I look him in the face and get nothing. If he's not on a squeeze here the only hand in his range I'm ahead of is AK and there I'm only a slight favorite. So I decide to muck and wait for a better spot.
An orbit later get K♠Q♦ in the CO and it ends up being a 6 way limped pot. I elected to limp behind here with a good but not great hand. Flop comes down K♦3♣2♣ and it's checked to UTG+2 who leads for $17. I call and everyone else folds. Turn comes J♦ and he checks. I figure to be ahead here and bet $25. He calls. River A♠ and he checks again. Really don't like that card cause he may very well have A♣x♣ and be looking to show it down. So I'm in a spot where he's folding any worse hand and calling with everything that beats me so I check it back. He taps the table not wanting to show, so I announce I have a king, turn it over, and I am good. Almost certainly a lower flush draw, maybe even something as strong as 5♣4♣.
Continue to play tight and 3 orbits or so later get K♠K♣ UTG. I make it $8 and only the small blind calls. Flop comes T♦7♥3♦. He checks and I decide to check it back. I thought this was a player that was capable of checkraising me with a lot of different hands so I want to keep it small here and also add a little bit of deception. Turn 2♣, he now leads for $15 and I call. River comes 5♦ completing a possible diamond draw. He checks and I put a $20 bet out there. I think he keeps the lead with anything that beats me and I think if he has something like JT or T9 he will pay me off. My hand was pretty disguised I could easily have AK/AQ here and floated turn. The possible flush does potentially kill some action if he puts me on something like A♦Q♦ but I don't think there is any risk to me betting here regardless. He does end up making the call and my kings are good.
So that's basically it. Played maybe 2 hours and ended up +$64 for the session. Not bad at all especially given the dynamics of the table. I thought this was a tough game for $1/$2 and even the player that I pegged as an OMC was more aggressive than OMCs usually are. However I felt really good about my postflop play during this session (it certainly helped that the two key hands I played were in position) and I had a good feel of where my opponents were at in the hand. Room is good though. Dealers were competent and they had no issues calling the list when there were 9 people and even dealing the first couple of hands 6-handed while waiting for other players.
Another positive was that we had 3 all-ins with cards to come and each time the players flipped up their hands right away. One thing I hate about cash games is getting it all-in, seeing the runout and having no idea if it helped your opponent or not. Ben Deach made a point about this on his most recent blog, stating that even the players not involved in the hand should be able to see what's going on since they are paying rake in the game and thus are interested parties. I completely agree and I think once there's an all-in with the action closed on a hand it should be flipped up as in tournaments. Should be no mucking in these spots. You could make the argument that it's an etiquette issue as well.
Hoping to visit Encore Boston Harbor next.
Table actually was pretty tough. A lot of pots got taken down preflop and there were very few limped pots. People played mostly tight but weren't shy about putting bets and raises in either. There were no loosey goosey sandwich eaters I'm afraid. I start with $100 in front of me with the plan of playing conservative/wise. Here's how it went:
First hand I get to play K♥J♥ in the BB with 1 limper. A middle aged guy who was appearing to play tight and usually raised but limped this time. Thought about raising but I'm OOP here and don't want to bloat the pot. Flop comes A♦Q♣J♦ and I check. He bets $10 into $4. Very strange as that did not appear to hit his range and I figure to have some equity with a pair plus a draw. But it's bottom pair and a gutshot and I can't call a 2x pot bet. I guess he has Ax a lot of times here, or maybe something like Q♦T♦? Or maybe QJ or KT and trying to end the hand. Perhaps he was just trying to buy it. I dunno, I can't call either way. So I muck that one.
A little bit later pick up 66 OTB. An EP player makes it $7 and 2 people call. I didn't really bring enough money to set mine but with the raise plus two callers I figure I'm getting a good price so I throw in the $7. However, SB comes over the top for $35 total, the original raiser and the two callers drop and it's back to me. He looked like an internet kid but had been playing as tight as I was. Still, I couldn't help but think maybe he was trying to set up that image to make a move in a spot like this. I look him in the face and get nothing. If he's not on a squeeze here the only hand in his range I'm ahead of is AK and there I'm only a slight favorite. So I decide to muck and wait for a better spot.
An orbit later get K♠Q♦ in the CO and it ends up being a 6 way limped pot. I elected to limp behind here with a good but not great hand. Flop comes down K♦3♣2♣ and it's checked to UTG+2 who leads for $17. I call and everyone else folds. Turn comes J♦ and he checks. I figure to be ahead here and bet $25. He calls. River A♠ and he checks again. Really don't like that card cause he may very well have A♣x♣ and be looking to show it down. So I'm in a spot where he's folding any worse hand and calling with everything that beats me so I check it back. He taps the table not wanting to show, so I announce I have a king, turn it over, and I am good. Almost certainly a lower flush draw, maybe even something as strong as 5♣4♣.
Continue to play tight and 3 orbits or so later get K♠K♣ UTG. I make it $8 and only the small blind calls. Flop comes T♦7♥3♦. He checks and I decide to check it back. I thought this was a player that was capable of checkraising me with a lot of different hands so I want to keep it small here and also add a little bit of deception. Turn 2♣, he now leads for $15 and I call. River comes 5♦ completing a possible diamond draw. He checks and I put a $20 bet out there. I think he keeps the lead with anything that beats me and I think if he has something like JT or T9 he will pay me off. My hand was pretty disguised I could easily have AK/AQ here and floated turn. The possible flush does potentially kill some action if he puts me on something like A♦Q♦ but I don't think there is any risk to me betting here regardless. He does end up making the call and my kings are good.
So that's basically it. Played maybe 2 hours and ended up +$64 for the session. Not bad at all especially given the dynamics of the table. I thought this was a tough game for $1/$2 and even the player that I pegged as an OMC was more aggressive than OMCs usually are. However I felt really good about my postflop play during this session (it certainly helped that the two key hands I played were in position) and I had a good feel of where my opponents were at in the hand. Room is good though. Dealers were competent and they had no issues calling the list when there were 9 people and even dealing the first couple of hands 6-handed while waiting for other players.
Another positive was that we had 3 all-ins with cards to come and each time the players flipped up their hands right away. One thing I hate about cash games is getting it all-in, seeing the runout and having no idea if it helped your opponent or not. Ben Deach made a point about this on his most recent blog, stating that even the players not involved in the hand should be able to see what's going on since they are paying rake in the game and thus are interested parties. I completely agree and I think once there's an all-in with the action closed on a hand it should be flipped up as in tournaments. Should be no mucking in these spots. You could make the argument that it's an etiquette issue as well.
Hoping to visit Encore Boston Harbor next.
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