MuckPls vs BigWhale - a WSOP June TR

I made it over to Paris, where it took me 5 minutes to get WSOP+ app verified. Pretty cool to see the huge empty ballroom:

Now I have made it to this location, where I will take a crack at the 10am $100 tournament just for fun. Structure is fast, but I know how to navigate that.

Oscar's was very good when 4 middle aged knuckleheads went there in maybe 2015-ish. Service was great. Good luck on the trip!

Make sure it's a bluff shove, and not a shove for value!

Very quick update to say that I did not win the $100 donkament at Planet Hollywood. Busted around 14th place on a play that at I at the time thought was very marginal, but that in hindsight might be ok.

I have 35000 chips at 1000-2000-2000, however this is the last hand at this level and the blinds will double after (2000-4000-4000). It folds to me in 2nd position with 55 and I decided to just jam it in here. Hand is too good to fold, but I don't want to minraise and potentially lose the pot and be much lighter in chips when the new blinds come around.

Short stack called all-in for around 10k with 44, and then another guy thought for around 20 seconds before finally also jamming and showing 77. I did not improve and was descimated down to 2000 chips. They went UTG next hand, but I lost.

(I had KK and lost versus A2o, but hardly too relevant - it was 4-ways and with an Ace out there I realized it would be tough to win).

After some random shopping I took an Uber back to Plaza, and tried to take a nap. I was however unsucessful, and after tossing & turning for an hour I just gave up and instead went here:

The pool is not huge, but there was not a lot of people and it was mostly in shade this 'late' in the day. So that was very relaxing, and I also had room to swim around a little bit (like the fish I am).

Now I am going to head out and hopefully find a cash game at Golden Nugget that I can play in until I get tired. Then tomorrow it's the first 'real' tournament of the trip; $300 Grand Stack at Golden Nugget, with 40k starting chips and 30 minute blinds. Hopefully I can get something going in that one.

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$100 (1 played)

Nope. Somewhere that far away, there's nothing I want to do or see badly enough to make the trip.

In that structure 55 is autojam!

Wow, there are advantages to not arriving on opening day. I'll have to remember that if I ever come back.

Got this notification on my phone:

A short 3.5 hour flight to Amsterdam, a not so short 6.5 hour layover followed by a 10.5 flight and we are in Vegas! At least I am not travelling alone this time, Mr PLO is on both flights + we will chill in a lounge in Amsterdam for most of the layover.

After crunching some numbers I have also updated my plans and schedule a bit, it will be a bit more tourney heavy this time. But more on that later, the first 16 hours will consist of a monster session at Aria to turn the day around completely.

Yesterday evening I went to Golden Nugget to play a session, as promised. I got a seat immediately in a pretty packed poker room, and one dealer also told me that they are running cash games in the Grand Ballroom (where the tourney series are). Let us run through a few of the hands.

I was very card-dead for the first hour and not too much happend. Was down around twenty bucks (bought in for $400), when the first really interesting spot comes up. I raise with 88 to $10 from 2nd position, a button-clicking OMC calls in position (BTN) and then BB 3-bets to $30. Lol-sizing, but this guy around my age had been very passive so far and only been limping. So even though we can 4-bet lighter here with a 'dead' caller, I don't think my hand is the best candidate for that. There is also not much fold-equity most likely. So I call, and the OMC calls as well.

A-5-5 on the flop, and the 3-bettor actually checks. I check as well, and then the OMC bets $15 quickly. 3-bettor folds, and against such a small sizing I decided to peel once. The pot was $90 to the flop after all, so I don't mind taking one off here. Turn come a 2, and after I check again he now bets $25. Again very small, but I don't think I can continue any longer. There are even hands he could bet like this that I lose to (99? TT?), and he did call my original raise so he still have some decent Ax in his range. I fold.

Then I make what I think is a pretty good play. There is a $5 BTN-straddle from a decent player seated to my right, and there are two limps for $5 before cutoff makes it $15. Button calls the $15 and I find AJo in SB. The small sizing to $15 over two limps are often a weak hand, and the button is never too strong here - he is just defending his straddle. So I make it $72 and everyone folds out quickly.

The same guy then straddles UTG and I find black Aces in EP1. I make it $18 to go (too small, corrected that later), and Small Blind is the only caller. He is a very OMC-looking that one dealer knew by name, and he has been very passive since he sat down around 45 minutes ago.

Q-3-J rainbow is the flop, which looks decent to me. Tons of hands I can get value from here, so after he checks I start with a bet of $25. He calls fairly quickly, but it did not look like he considered a raise. Turn is a harmless 2c, putting a club draw out there (to my memory, the other club was the Jc).

He checks, I bet $65 (into $93) and he only takes around 10 seconds before confidently announcing 'all-in' and pushing out his stack. I groan and ask for a count. The dealer tells me it's $197 on top, so I am getting decent pot-odds. My overwhelming thought is that I need to bet-fold here, especially against this mid-70s guy who likely never go crazy with anything worse here on the turn. I am thinking that hands like QJ and 55 are very much in his range. There are however some flush draws out there, but I double check and see that I am holding Ac which is not ideal. That said, maybe he could be the kind of guy that just thinks KQcc is the nuts here?

In lack of any better info I ask him 'Queen Jack?' and although he didn't respond I thought I picked up a small live tell. So even though I didn't like it, I decided to flick in the call. River is a 4, and he takes his sweet time and almost seems unhappy for a bit, but eventually he rolls over QQ for top set.

In hindsight I think this should be a very clear bet-fold. Not against everyone of course, but as I expected this guy just would not find any worse hands to jam with here on the turn. And obviously he is that kind of OMC that could have both QQ and JJ in his range, and didn't even consider 3-betting pre. While there are a few hands that I theoretically beat, it's very bad that I heavily block AQ and that I block all nut-flush draws. So my combo of Aces is probably a fold, and I can rather find calsl with my combos not containing a club.

Feeling slightly frustrated with myself I reload for $200, and actually managed to recover decently. First I find 88 from EP1 after a $5 UTG-straddle and make it $20 to go. That does not scare anyone as I get 3 callers, including the OMC from above. The flop is above average, with Q-8-5 all spades. Two checks to me, and although this is live poker I decided to go small as the theory says on these boards. I bet $30, and only my OMC-friend from the Aces-hand call.

Turn is amazing with another 5, so now we want him in there drawing to the flush. Thus I only make it $50 to not scare him off if he is chasing, and if he is slow playing something he will make his move on the turn now anyway. He calls quickly again.

River is a random 2 that is not a spade. I do think his most likely hand is As that has now missed, but I also think that there is no chance to get a bluff out of him if I check. So I just decided to jam river for whatever I had left (around $160 into $240), hoping he had something he could convince himself to call with. He did not, as he just lifted up his cards for another look and quickly announced 'fold'. Against a better player I think we can check river here, but I just didn't think that I could get this guy to bluff.

Then we find 99 UTG after another straddle and makes it $20 again. An OWC (older woman) in EP1 is the only caller, and we go heads-up to 8-4-3 rainbow, All things considered, not too terrible. I bet $20 and she calls. Turn is a J, which I don't think changes anything. So I think I can bet small for value again, and keep her low pairs in. I bet $35 and she calls quickly again.

River is a T, and I think I might make a mistake here by checking. She quickly checks back, and my hand is obviously good. I would have to keep my sizing very much in check here, but I think that throwing out something like $45 maybe could have given a call from hands like 8x and 66/77. So I think that was a mistake, not going for three streets here. Not a gigantic mistake, but still one where I should be able to squeeze out a bit more.

I was getting quite tired, so I just cashed out after 3 hours exactly for a loss of $133 USD. Result is whatever, but it would have been a winning session if I had folded those Aces. It's not a terrible mistake by any stretch, but against this player profile I really think I should have been able to get away from it.

Here are some old school slot machines from Golden Gate:

Today I have slept for almost 8 hours which felt great (just took the advise of other TRs and turned off the AC for the night), so now it's time to hit up the gym and otherwise just relax before the $300 Grand Stack at mid-day. Hopefully I can play some decent poker and put together a deep run, but it's tournaments so anything can happen. Will be interesting to see how the field is playing, and how many entires it gets.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 3h 00min
Won/lost: -$133 USD
Hourly rate: -$44 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$100 (1 played)

Thanks for the update. Really enjoy your HHs.

After a chill start to the day, plus a visit here:

It is now time to play the $300 Grand Stack at Golden Nugget. 40k stack, 30min blinds. Wish me luck:

Might give sporadic updates here along the way. 69 entries so far, but will surely be way over 100 eventually.

is that a hotel gym? Very good one if so

LFG

The gym at The Plaza yes. It has some cool features like punching bags and ropes (not that I know how to use either of these properly). Only thing I found missing was an exercise ball & a foam roller! But overall a pretty good gym, yes 😀 Will try to use it tomorrow as well before checking out from here.

Meanwhile 20 or so hours from Vegas:

The bags you punch and the ropes you wave up and down like you see on tv. The only bad part is you should prob have your own striking gloves.

Nice cash! Good patience!

Congratulations on making the money.

Congrats on the cash, even if it was bittersweet.

Weird indeed. Sometimes it's hard to tell if huge bets mean max value or max pressure. I think a bad splashy OMC can be value-owning himself in a spot like this with a slow-played QQ-AA. Since your hand is under-repped, there's not really a strong reason for him to assume you have the 2. I'd probably be inclined to look him up, but that doesn't mean you made the wrong decision. I agree that he can have any of 88-66 here.

I've seen erratic players show up with hands and lines that make no sense. I actually folded trips in a similar spot in a tournament back in September where my opponent played TT in the weirdest way imaginable (limp-call pre, check-call rag flop, check-jam turn when the turn paired the board). He never bet his hand for value until I made the best hand on the turn, and then he decided to rip into someone who had bet the whole way. He thought I had AK. I thought he had a boat or better trips based on how he played the hand. Woops.

Hero folds can go either way, but it seems like this one worked out for you, so I wouldn't dwell on it too much.

Currently chilling in the lounge at Schipol. Flight is in 3 hours. Vegas in 13 hours!

I don't think this is a thing that exists 😀

Thanks! In hindsight I am not in love with my fold, simply because I am so extremely underrepped here. I just called the flop, checked the turn, and now make a tiny value bet on the river after turn checks through. This is something I could do with a hand like... A8s or K8s for example, which both remained top pair on the board. And I did lead out small partially to invite a raise, so I am not exactly sure why I folded after getting the desired reaction. My hand here looks quite a bit weaker than what it actually is.

In my defense, I often like to make exploitable folds (even if I am not always able to) against people who I deem to have no bluffing frequency. Although this guy had splashed around a bit after registering to get a good stack, he had quieted down afterwards. And the river is hugely underbluffed, especially from this player profile. In short, I just don't think he is capable of picking up on the small sizing with a bluff-raise here, especially as he have to get through two players.

Sometimes people think they're making value bets, when to you, they're bluffs.