MuckPls and everyone else vs Vegas (10/4 to 10/20)

Thanks man I appreciate it. Would normally not respond but the stuff he’s saying is so incredibly absurd that I can’t help but reply.

Much love everyone, happy that 99.9% of the 2+2 community is on our side. Even tho I obviously don’t tip [emoji23]

Nah he’s just lazy to post [emoji23] we share a room, so once he arrived we went to eat then had some drinks and walked around the strip and ended up in Planet Hollywood of all places.
We were out until 1 am

Tried on Grand's 1,5k GTD a moment ago - Could've easily played past the break at least, and then some, but did some over confident plays whichat the end forced me to shove pre for 15bb w A7d with 1 caller who's AQ held. Meh.

Now time to get a workout in before potentially heading down to the V for some bounty tourney. Missed Vegas!

Aria time:

After visiting the gym this morning, I went for a session on home turf. MuckPls was already playing in a game, and as mentioned above 'sicarriu5' played the 11am daily tournament.

I quickly got a seat in a new game that opened up, and even though the game was quite passive there was some interesting spots for sure. I won a small one early ,when a very weak player dressed in a cool political t-shirt (yes, now I am mixing in politics too 😀 ) limped in, and I make it $12 from 3rd position with T9cc. An OMC calls on the button, but the limper folds.

4-5-6 one club doesn't seem too promising, so I just check this one. The OMC quickly checks back, and 8c lands on the turn. Now I actually have a lot going for my hand, so I bet $15 and he just quickly folds.

A few hands again the fishy limper from first hand limps in again, and I follow suit in CO with K8dd. Could certainly raise, but in these types of games I am not adverse to seeing some cheap flops as well. SB completes and BB checks, so we go 4-ways to Q-T-4 two diamonds. It checks to the first limper, who bets out $5. I call, and the rest fold out.

Turn comes a 5 and he once again bets $5. Same bet, maybe I could raise but I just decided to draw for a cheap price. I do however not hit the river, which is a 2, and have to fold to his $10 bet. Small pots, and I am around breaking even.

Then I find A9dd from 3rd pos and make it $10, before the above mentioned OMC makes it $20 from the button. Nothing like the OMC minraise-pre. I call, with the intention of being very careful if an Ace should flop. I do think this player has a very narrow range for 3-betting, just by the look of him. I assume something like AA, KK, QQ and maybe AK, although I doubt the latter.

No Ace, but we get Q-T-6 two diamonds. Interesting. I check, and the OMC assembles a bet of $30. He has around $120 back, and this one felt a bit close to me. I am in big trouble vs QQ and AA, but in pretty good shape against KK. I have an Ace in my hand, reducing the chances of AA. And out of the big pairs, I think QQ is the one he is less likely to 3-bet.

So I raise enough to put him all-in, and he calls fairly quickly. Turn is another 6, but river comes the 8d, making my flush. I flip over my hand quickly, and he obviously shows AA. So I was drawing much slimmer than I would have liked, but thankfully the dealer came to my rescue. That said, I certainly don't hate my play given KK is his most likely holding out of those I described above.

A few hands after I played a hand pretty well, even though it was a small pot. There are 4 limps to me, and I just check A2o in BB. Flop comes A-3-T two hearts, and checks around. Turn brings the 4h, and I have Ah in my hand. I bet out for $6 and get one caller.

River is a black 8, so I am left with top pair. I do however decide to check it, as I think there is a decent chance opponent was on a draw with a high heart. Granted, this would be even better if I did not have the Ace of hearts, but I still think that letting him bluff something was a reasonable option. So I check, he bets out $10, I snap-call and he mucks immediately.

I win and lose a small pot here and there and stay around the same stack for a bit. Then we get a limp for $2, and I have QTo on the button. Seems good enough for a raise versus a single limper, so I make it $11 (no idea why I didn't go my usual $12). Both BB and the limper calls, and we see A-J-5 two clubs. I have Qc in my hand, and quite like this flop as I should have a big range advantage.

The limper doesn't care however, and bets out $20. He did however clearly do this in two motions, placing $10 first, and then doing some weird hand gesture which made two more chips come out a second or two later. I asked the dealer 'stringbet?', and demonstrated what the opponent had done. The dealer said he would allow it, since all the chips came from his hand (he didn't go back to grab more from stack). I ended up folding, which I regretted as soon as I did it. In position I think I could call here, and try to take it away on later streets if I get any favorable cards, or if he shows weakness.

(fwiw, I dropped the stringbet issue as soon as the dealer explained it, and was not rude about it at all. I just wanted clarification as it seemed extremely blatant to me. I still think it should have been called as a string bet).

I win a decent small pot against the OMC a bit later in a limped pot with TP from BB, and a round later I have KThh in BB after 3 players have limped in. Should probably have raised this one, but in these passive games I sometimes like to not overdo it and make people think I am trying to run them over. There were countless pots where I raised to $10 and got no callers, so I was my far the most active at the table pre-flop. That said, I might be too 'nice' in these spots; a game like this should rather be used to increase the aggression.

Either way, back to the hand. T-9-9 rainbow checks around, and we see a 3 on the turn (second club on board). I bet out for $5 after SB checked, and surprisingly enough get two callers. River comes another 9, which fills the flush as well. SB checks, and although any flush should realize it's not a good hand on this board I am still gonna try to target one. I bet out $17, and the first caller folds, but BB throws in the $17. My full house is obviously good.

A while later I pick up AJo after a limp, and bump it up to $11. The table suddenly wakes up, as cutoff, BB and the limper all call. We do however get a great flop in J-7-3 rainbow, and it checks to me. I bet $20, although I wish I had gone $25-$30 instead. It didn't make a difference as everyone folded, but I still think a slightly bigger sizing could have gotten the same calls (as a smaller bet).

I am up around $200 now, and had considered leaving for a while as the game was passive. It was however a nice enough table with some friendly conversation, so I stayed around a bit. And that paid off, when there is a raise to $6 from a passive player who normally limps, and I have AA in cutoff. I 3-bet to $22, only to see the button (sat down 5 minutes ago with $300) make the cold-call. The original raiser actually folds out.

Heads-up then to 8-7-3 two clubs, which I think is a really good flop. I strongly think his range consists of hands like 88 through QQ, maybe with some AK and AQ sprinkled in. So I bet $35 (into $53), only to see him raise to $120 (!). I did not expect that, but fairly quickly came to a conclusion. I have red Aces, so I unblock good flush draws, and I still think his range is mostly comprised of big pairs compared to sets. I guess he could have 88 or 77, but if we throws in some semi-bluffs with good flushdraws in his range then I should have a profitable spot here.

I will however note that the raise size is pretty big, and I would have expected him more to make it like $70-$80 if he had like JJ and wanted to 'find out where he is'. And I have obviously no idea if this player will ever play a flush draw with overs fast, or if he will just call and try to hit.

Regardless, I jammed, and he snapcalled. I said something like "oh sh*t, you actually have 88?" and he said "sevens" and flipped them up. I showed my hand as well, and mentally prepared myself to tell him 'nice hand' once the dealer had completed the board.

The board completed with a 9 on the turn and an ACE on the river. Whew. I drag in a huge pot and can only thank the Poker Gods for that river card.

I do win a few more small pots after that, but eventually cashed out for a cool profit of $514 USD after 2.5 hours.

Was I getting lucky in two key spots? Yes, for sure. But I think my thought process is solid in both hands, and that my plays are completely reasonable. And that is the most important thing, regardless of whether the guy in the last hand only shows up with sets when he does this. He might be that kind of player, but I had no reads on him and no way to know.

Was chilling by the pool a bit earlier, but now I have to head out and find a game. Vegas, man, time just flies away from you. But I am feeling encouraged and motivated by my play so far on this trip. Let's head out and get it.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 13h 00min
Won/lost: +$233 USD
Hourly rate: +$17.9 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$100 (1 tourney)

You have shared enough PMs... You should probably get my initials correct.

You have shared enough PMs... You should probably get my initials correct.

6 hours of play at Aria and managed to lose $60. Stopped by a $100 table with $200 (I know, variance right?) and finally going to sleep in the green:

those sweet, sweet, filthy chips!

Boom - nice river!

After considering various options on where to play this evening, I decided to just be lazy and go somewhere nearby:

I quickly got seated at a table that had a lot of short-ish stacks, so I didn't feel the need to buy in any deeper than $300. I win a quick pot when I raise up AQss to $12 from UTG, and button calls. He was a young-ish Asian who seemed to be a decent player from the little I had observed so far. Worth of note is also that we were only 6-handed for this hand.

Flop comes K-5-4 two clubs and no spades. I have nothing, but this should be an ok board for me to bet. I make it $15, and he thinks for a bit and calls. Turn is a red 9, which should be a blank. I ended up going for a double barrel here, simply because I thought he could float somewhat wide in position, and no further draws materialized. I throw out $35, which is enough to get a fold.

Then there is a weird limped pot, where I check my options in BB with 98o. We go 4-ways to 6-7-8 two spades. I considered leading, but decided to potentially go for a check-raise instead. I didn't get the option to do so, as it checks around and a 5 comes on the turn. We make our straight, and I decided to check it once again. It just didn't seem like anyone had much, and I wanted to give them a chance to hit a pair or something on the river.

A guy probably around 60 years of age bets out for $10, before the Asian makes it $20. Weird spot, but at least one of them should have a straight. I take a few seconds to debate, and while I do so the older gentleman almost act out of turn with a call. That makes it easy for me to call as well, since I know I won't get raised.

River is a random 3, and I once again check it. The old guy now bets out $20, which prompts a fold from the Asian. I debate for a few seconds, but there is not really any point in raising here. He is never playing a 4 this way, and I am likely chopping against another 9. So I call, only to get shown the nuts in 9T suited. Fair enough. I know I played this one fairly passively, but on such a board I see no need to go crazy. There are very few worse hands I can get value from, as any raise at any point will look strong.

Very next hand UTG raises to $10, and I have QQ in SB. That's a welcome sight, so I 3-bet to $45. He thinks about it and calls. We get our first set of the trip, with Q-3-7 two clubs. I have Qc, which blocks a lot of his potential decent flush draws, so I just downbet to $30 here to keep him in. He obliges, and calls.

9h is the turncard, a complete blank. I see that he has around $150 left, and although the pot is already that size, I decided to break it up into two bets. I make it $50, and he once again calls. River is a K, so JT now has a straight. But while there are a few JTs he could have floated with, I don't think it's highly likely. So I just jam it in for his remaining $100. He looks pained for a little bit, but decides on a fold after around 15 seconds.

A while later we find 9Tss from UTG, and raise to $12 as table is still quite short-handed. EP1 actually 3-bets to $25 and a fishy player coldcalls from SB. I make the call as well, and we go 3-ways to 8-8-3 one spade. It checks around. Turn is the prettiest card in the deck, the As. So we have a flush draw at least. SB checks, I check, and the raiser now bets quite big ($50). The fish calls the $50 with only about the same behind, and I end up folding. Maybe a bit tight, but I am only drawing to a naked flush and the board is paired. So in theory I could be drawing dead.

Then we get into a very interesting spot. We are 5-handed and I raise QJo to $12 from UTG. Only the Asian calls on the button, and we go heads-up to K-Q-T. I decided to check this one, which is probably a close decision. He bets $15, and I think we have a fairly standard call.

Turn comes with a 9, so we make our straight. I decided to lead for $20 here, as I didn't want the turn to check through. He thinks for a bit, but calls. River is a 6, and I chose to bet again. I make it $65 (into $98), thinking that he's gonna call with hands that he otherwise would check behind. I am thinking specifically about two pair combos, of which there certainly are some.

He thinks for a bit and then announces raise. He makes it $165 in total, so $100 more for me. It's an icky spot where I am only calling to chop. But when I bet reasonably big on the river, I just don't think he takes a hand like KJ or similar for a raise. I actually fold, although this one feels a bit nitty. I am basically giving saying he must have AJ only when making this raise, which might be a big assumption. At the same time, it would make sense that he indeed have it. He does not show, so I guess we'll never know.

The table then breaks, and I get assigned a new seat down around $50 or so. I quickly get it back however, when I have QTo in SB after BTN have limped in. Could raise, but decided to just complete and BB checks. J-7-9 rainbow, and it checks to the button. He makes it $15, which is huge into $9. I had considered check-raising, but didn't think it would get much folds when he sizes this big. So I just call, and BB folds.

Turn is a K, so we make the nuts. I check it over to him, and he goes $15. Same bet is a classic, and I take this to mean he likely only has a reasonable Jack. So we can't make it too big. I check-raise to $40, and after a considerable amount of deliberation he calls. River comes with a 6, and he has around $150 left. I bet $75 to leave him some chips to play with in case he calls. He doesn't think for too long however before folding.

Then we get into an absurd situation, where there is a limp for $3, and I raise KJo on the button to $15. SB, who is completely new to the table, calls the $15 and BB and the limper also calls. We are 4 players who see K-8-7 rainbow, however before we even saw this flop the SB announces a dark bet of $25 (!). Very strange. BTN only calls the $25, and I must surely have the best hand against that action? I raise to $100, and the dark-bettor calls while button folds out.

Turn is a 9, not a perfect card but I do add a gutshot as well in addition to my top pair. He checks this time, and I look at his stack and bet $100 again. He only has around $150 left, but end up just calling. In hindsight should have just said 'all-in', but I don't think it would have made a difference for how it played out.

River comes a J, so we have two pair. He now jams in front for his remaining $50, and I am obviously not folding. He announces 'Queens' and indeed show a pair of ladies. He probably misplayed ever street in that hand, but I can only say thank you and appreciate the gift. Had he 3-bet preflop I would obviously have been out of there with just KJo.

I also get AA a bit later, and make it $20 from the Small Blind. BB calls, and both the limpers call. A-Q-6 all hearts is an interesting flop, and it checks to me. I remember Bart Hanson having said that theory-wise, a small bet on this type of board is advisable with entire range. So I bet $20 again, obviously prepared to call a raise if that comes behind. It does not, as all opponents quickly fold.

Last interesting spot is when it folds to be on the button, and I have 54ss. I raise it up to $11, and both blinds calls. 8-5-4 two hearts and one spade. Pretty reasonable flop, so after they both check to me I make it $15. Both opponents call. I could certainly go bigger here, but these two were decent players and I know that they know this is not a great board for me.

Turn is the 6s, so a straight comes in but we pick up a straight flush draw in addition to a 4-flush. Both check again, and I decided to check here. Yes, I can bet and call a raise, but I think it just allows all hands with 7x to play perfect against me. River comes another 6, which means that I have been counterfeited. SB bets out $40 and I have to fold. They claim a 7 shortly after, although I never got to see it.

Won a lost a few small pots after that, and ended up booking a $387 USD profit after 3.5 hours of play. Could certainly have played longer (as always), but game was not amazing and I was starting to get a bit tired.

Speaking of tired, I am going to bed. But it has been a really nice and profitable day, so hopefully we can continue that trend 😀

Cash Games:

Hours played: 16h 30min
Won/lost: +$620 USD
Hourly rate: +$37.6 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$100 (1 tourney)

I am from the US, and you have discovered one of the unfortunate truths of living here these days. Some people make a bfd out of the smallest things.

Just curious, do they make you pay to use one of those chairs?

Can we get some photos of hookers please?

Oops! I don't know why I've had Randall Graves in my head all this time, but I have.

No, at least for this regular pool they are free. I believe some of the best chairs by the lazy river cost money though.

Not Randall but I might take you up on that offer though not to unleash on you. Wife handles the schedules. I knew we were making a short trip to hit a seven stars event but she just confirmed this week.

We hit Vegas late tomorrow, spend one night in Horsehoe. Then even though we have 4 nights there, we move to Bellagio for 4 or 5 nights. (Yes will be attending Caesars 7* activities while staying at MGM but at least this time we don’t have a room downtown at GN also.)

So we overlap and will be neighbors but have a fair bit of off strip activities. These trips are more about her. I oft3n don’t play much poker while in Vegas. This trip is really about checking out some things for our next trip in Dec when kids will be meeting us (and most don’t gamble).

But if time permits might PM your to meet up for a drink.

Sounds good, we are here until Sunday and our schedule is flexible so just drop me a pm. No idea where I’ll be but probably somewhere between Aria / Bellagio / Venetian as always.

How’s your trip going?

Me:

Bonus points for anyone getting the below reference:

Sitting by V's (New?) poker room whilst Muck crushes the cash game opps - Hopefully ending in the green so I get some company in the tourney later.

Strolled around Strip before this and taking in the atmosphere. Man, no need to wait for GTA IV when you can just watch at all the weird **** happening here IRL lol.

Had small BJ and Ultimate HE (Which Muck hates) sessions at Cosmo and LinQ, and we're actually up by a microscopic margin but hey, I'll take it.

Now to see where I can blast it off at the V, before getting a workout in later and then taking down (Either myself or the tournament) bounty in the evening.

Steve Madden reference from The Wolf of Wall Street?

Yup! My absolute favourite movie of all time.

Read: Me (Got a seat at the same table).

Haven't played in about a month but I will be back in action at Aria on Friday night. You always seem to play another venue when I'm playing. Buy any shoes yet on this trip?