Thursday, July 10, 2008

Vegas Trip Report

July 10th, 2008

I had a good time at the Veteran-Owned business conference and did some actual networking. Being the president of your own corporation is strange. I ate out of course, but I was conscious of how much I was spending. I had legitimate expenses for meals, but I limited myself and wasn’t too extravagant. If I was working for someone else, I’d have gone crazy.

I got a chance to visit with Dr. Pauly and Otis. Both looked pretty haggard, but I still felt like they were both doing what they wanted (and kicking ass at it, too). I even got some much needed goatee advice from Otis. We could be twins!

Poker was profitable, which is also very strange. I had only two losing sessions. One was playing 2/5 NL and the other was playing short-handed 10/20 Omaha 8 - both at the Rio. Omaha 8 was a penis-waving contest with nearly every pot capped pre-flop. I scooped one pot where I had A-K-3-3 and flopped a boat, but I lost two others and there went my profit.

My money-maker was ½ NL. I made two horrible plays, but the rest was just patience. Here is one interesting hand.

I have a loose aggressive table image. It folds to me and I raise with 6-7 on the button. Only the big blind calls, and he’s a decent player.

The flop is 5-8-9 rainbow. Sweet – I flopped the nuts!

He checks and I decide I’m not going to slow play. I’ll represent big slick and see if I can get him to make a bad move. I bet $25. He min-raises me to $50. Sweet! I re-raise to $75. He just calls (?!).

The turn is a 9 (pairing the board). He checks. What do you do here?

As you know, I’m not one to be timid. I need information. I bet $75. He raises to $175. He has about $100 behind and I have him covered.

What do you do?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Back to Back Check RAISES...

Does he have bottom set and boat up on ya???

Or does he have Big pocket pair and trying to see if you have a 9?

Hmmm

Anonymous said...

Smells like a boat to me.

I'll bet you wish you would have raised more on the flop.

My final out said...

I push. I could honestly see A9 or even K9 here. I have seen that many times. Just my 2 cents.

-Grouse

DrChako said...

Perfect analysis.

His possible holdings are A9, K9, 98 or Presto (5-5). I can beat two of those. What made my decision was not the fact that I really thought he boated up, but the fact that he only had $100 more behind. There was $350 in the pot at this point. Calling was not an option because he surely pushes on the river so the money is going in anyway. I either have to fold or go all-in.

Here's where it gets tricky. It's an extra $200 to me (the raise plus his $100 behind), so it will cost me $200 to possibly gain a pot that will have $650 in it (which meant I was getting a little better than 3:1) or I can walk away from the $175 I've already invested.

I pushed. he insta-called with his 5-5. I've been beating myself up about the hand because, despite the odds, I was nearly certain I was beat. I should be able to get away from the straight here, no?

-DrC

My final out said...

Thats tough, and you can make an argument for getting rid of it, but at 3 to one on your money you only need to be right 1 out of 3 times. As you said you were ahead of 2 out of the 4 hands. That makes it the right play to push. I know when I play there are a lot of times where I have the feeling I am beat but the math says you should continue. Thats a tough spot. I like your play though. Nice post.

-Grouse

Anonymous said...

Doubtful he has K9. Why couldn't he have 88?

Could be a tough laydown especially if 'he' thinks you have a loose aggressive image. REMEMBER: Just because you think you have that image doesn't mean they think that. Watch for 'their' adjustment to you to confirm that.

I wouldn't beat yourself up too bad over this. After all, you represented a big pair for the most part, not to mention it's a shorthanded blind steal situation. However, IF you really think you're beat, sometime you just have to trust that instinct.

Bernie