MuckPls & Whale - a March Madness TR part III

Btw how do you get three suited broadway cards in a full house? It’s only 2 cards.

Finally managed to squeeze out a comeback and a green at the Aria, but holy **** it’s always an uphill battle this week.

Now it’s just chill until an evening session, probably at the Aria again.

Totals so far:

How can you have a full house AND 3 suited Broadway?

There is a Perfect VP app on android you can download which lets you put it in game type, hand etc and will give you the best play.

Pretty sure you need to pay a small amount to unlock all the features but definitely worth the money if you don't know what hold is best I'm certain scenarios

At DDB you don’t break any full house except for AAAxx, which you break once you have at least a 3x or two 2x multipliers on the board. You’d hold AAAxx with no multipliers or minimal ones.

At TDB there are probably breakpoints for other premiums trips but I don’t know them.

you tried..

Sigh, I had 80% of the text written for a session at Aria yesterday evening, only to click a random button and all the text disappeared. I was not able to recover it either, which is extremely frustrating. Feeling pretty dejected now (not about poker results, but other reasons).

New session at Aria, first 30 minutes:

I just had back to back to back to back KK, AA, AA, AA. In 4 hands! According to AI the probability of that is 2.6 billion to 1. Crazy stuff

Woahhhhh. That’s more times than I got aces my whole trip to Vegas!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And the funniest thing is I can’t raise anymore because the whole table is laughing at me, and I’m laughing too. It’s hilarious

I once covered a Monday night NFL game, went to the locker rooms afterward for quotes, wrote my column, hit send and my column disappeared into the ether. Never to be found. Never to be read. Just inexplicably gone ... lost ... eradicated. I had to rewrite the whole damn thing. It's a terrible feeling. Sorry you had to experience it.

Quick, find a high roller VP machine and ride the wave!

Sorry guys, I have no energy for this as I just lost all my text from yesterday's session at Aria (see above), and I have gotten sick and have no chance to keep up with the TR. So let's do a very watered down version of this session instead.

I bought in for $400 in this $1/$3 game while 'MuckPls' was playing at another table in the room. I actually get a decision the very first hand, when I raise KJo to $12 and get three callers (one in the field + both blinds). The flop comes K-9-2 two spades (I have none) and after they all check to me I bet $25. A bit too small, but we are obviously very multi-way here.

Everyone folds to an African American gentleman in BB (herby known as BG1), and he check-raises to $75 with around $100 back. I was very close to just sending it in here, as the guy looked like he could be a bit of action and there are a ton of draws out there. That said, it's my very first hand and I have no idea if he ever plays a draw fast. So in lack of a better option I chose the fold, although I would have gotten it in later in the session had I known how loose he was playing. He was definitely splashing around a bit, at least for the first hour or so.

I make a bad river-call a bit later in a limped pot (I have A9o in BB) where the board comes A-6-5 and checks around. Turn is a T and after SB checks I now lead for $10. An OMC calls, before SB now raises to $30. This feels strong although the sizing is a bit silly, but I also didn't quite believe that he would wait to check-raise the turn if he had a hand like 56 or similar. I call to evaluate, and the OMC folds.

River is a 3 and he continues betting for $50. I ended up making a tank-call although I am not really beating anything and he is unlikely to bluff the turn for that sizing. But you never know I guess. He won the hand with A6o.

I play some small hands here and there after this without too much happening, but I am able to win the occasional pot and usally stay stuck between $50-$100 USD. I then change seats to #8, as I didn't quite like my seat (seat 2) when it comes to seeing the board clearly from the corner. I guess I am getting old.

I play some more small to medium sized pots and occasionally winning. I even put in a 3-bet when EP1 made to $13 and got called by a recreational fish (who didn't stay long). I have AQo on the button and make it $52, which is enough to get both of them to fold. Maybe some merit to call in position and keeping the fish in with a weaker Ace, but I don't mind the 3-bet either.

Another Black Guy (BG2) have joined the game and he is a ton of action. He is in there almost every hand, and are putting out the straddle at every chance he gets. So also this hand, and EP1 + the fish follows suit by calling the $6. I have AQo in BB and raise it up to $43, simply because I know the straddle is unlikely to fold. He indeed calls, while the other two fold out.

Flop comes K-Q-8 all spades, and with As in my heart I decided to check it. This might be too much Fancy Play Syndrome versus a fish though. Turn comes another K, and I slide out $75 for value although I think I should go lower to get called by more mediocre hands.

He does not call and he does not fold - he min-raises to $150. What is this? I just didn't think he was very strong when he checked the flop, and although the might be reasons for calling and letting him bluff he had shown some restraint on the river at times. I ended up just jamming for not a ton more (less than $150 at least), as even if he has a strong hand I at least have the As to potentially make a flush.

Immediately I can tell that he does not like it, and although he does not snap-fold he eventually ends up folding while telling me 'good hand' in his strong Southern (?) accent. I am thinking New Orleans or similar. No idea what he could have, but I am happy taking down the pot although it felt a bit dicey.

I value town this guy once or twice more in small pots, including doing my 10% bet on the river with AJ on Q-J-2-5-6 (got called by 77), but I also took some lines that felt a bit too passive. Although to be fair, with a huge donator in the game you often want him in there and not driving him out with 3-bets.

Such one example is when a new British guy makes to $20 over two limps (BG2 limped UTG) and I have AKo in BB. This might bet taking it too extreme, but why should I play a multi-raised pot versus a likely good opponent OOP when I can istead stack the fish on A/K high flops? It's obviiously not something I would otherwise dream of doing in this spot, but I probably shouldn't adjust that much even if we have a donator in the game.

(I did not flop anything and eventually had to fold).

Then we find 88 from UTG and raise it up to $12, and BG2 calls before a new young-ish Asian 3-bets the cutoff to $65. It felt close as I am OOP, but we both have $500+ on the table and I really thought BG2 would come in behind me. So I chose to call, only to see the monster fish fold out.

Ok, let's play OOP versus a likely compentent Asian then. 9-7-5 two hearts (I have red eights) and he bets out $75. I am immediately thinking that I can have all the sets here, and although stacks get shallow quickly I could put him in a really bad spot with JJ or similar. So I ended up check-raising to $250, which is a bit of a silly sizing as I am putting in over half my stack. But in game it seemed better than to just make a big jam, as that would look a lot like a flush draw with overs in my opinion.

He thinks for around 15 seconds before announcing 'all-in', and I groan inside. I almost snap-called, but decided to put on the breaks and do some quick math as I hadn't really thought about what I would do if he jammed. But it seems I am getting something like 3:5/1 here, and I should have 24% equity against overpairs (two eights and four sixes). I ended up sigh-putting it in there, and we see the glorious 6 on the turn giving me a straight.

River is inconsequental (J) and he flips over a hand that I did not expect to see. The good old AQo for just Ace High? I was ahead the entire way! Insane, although I don't really like my line here. I think it's better to just jam the flop (even if I got the max by not doing that), and I also don't know why I put myself into this spot versus a young Asian instead of printing against BG1 and BG2.

We have an amazing stack though, and although we lose 1-2 small pots back we also win a few small ones. Eventually I had to cash out though, as I had other plans involving some female company (she has been sick the entire last week). I would have liked to keep playing as there was value, but sometimes other things in life are more important.

Winning $622 USD in 3.5 hours is obviously a great result, but I can't help feeling that there is something wrong with my game. I am not thinking through things clearly enough, I am constantly shying away from 3-betting pre, and it also feels like my tactics are not working as well as they used to. Maybe the game has caught up to me, as the only reason I am winning in Cash is because of lucky hands like above (I am up against overpair 95% of the time) plus winning a ton of promo money along the way.

Speaking of great results, I will try to get one more update tonight. Although as said above, I have gotten sick (sweating + body aches) and that obviously puts a huge damper on the rest of my trip on all fronts. In addition to having to fly back to Malta sick as a dog on Friday obviously.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 30h 45min
Won/Lost: +$938 USD
Hourly rate: +$30.5 USD

Tournaments:

Won/Lost: +$1401 USD (2 played)

One more quick post from me; as allueded to above I woke up feeling very tired and sluggish in my body. But I hoped some food and a shower would help, as I had planned today to start the day with the $10am Caesars Palace $100 tournament just for fun.

I got a great start to the tournament when there is a limp for 400 and I have A9dd behind him. I raise to 400, or wait - we grabbed the 1000 chips instead (similar in color) and made it 4000. A guy then laughs and ask if I am angling, before jamming 20k in there. I have to fold, and he later told me he had KK. I obviously explained it was a honest mistake as the chips look similar, and I have actually done the same mistake in this tournament before 2-3 years ago.

I get a lot of chips back through through skillfull play like value betting a turned full house (not that difficult really, and win a couple of other small pots to climb up to 28k or so. I mostly stay around that stack for a couple of levels, although I lost some when I raised AQo to 1000 from UTG. SB called, and BB folded.

3-5-5 two diamonds on the flop, and it goes check-check. Turn comes a 9 and opponent now leads for 1000. This guy is older than me but seems reasonably competent, so I decided to call and see what he does on the river. A Queen appears out of nowhere, although it puts a back door flush out in clubs. But I have Ac in my hand, which helps. He bets 4500 which is fairly big, but having rivered TPTK I couldn't justify folding. He did however win the hand with A5o for trips (great call pre).

When we reached level 6 and end of re-entry period I had 28500 chips. I bought the $50 addon they offer in this tourney for 15,000 chips more, which means that we were sitting around 42-43 big blinds when play resumed.

I win some chips this level when there is a raise to 3000, one caller, and I have AKo in SB. Both these guys are tight but I just have to go with my hand. I 3-bet to 16500, and the first raiser folds instantly while the caller thinks for a long time. Finally he taps the table and shows me TT before folding. Thanks for not letting me have to flip, I guess.

Then we make what is perhaps a mistake when the guy with KK from earlier (nice guy but fairly tight) limps in for 2k, I complete SB with J7cc and BB checks. A-3-T two clubs on the flop and it checks to the limper who throws out 3500. He has shown the tendency to limp some big hands like decent Aces etc, and I also saw him limp JJ once.

Turn comes an 8, so we have a gutshot and 4-flush. I look over at his stack which seems to be around 20k, and I end up betting 15k in front with my huge combodraw. If there ever is any fold-equity from a weak Ace I will take it, instead of just checking and letting him win if I don't improve.

He instantly jams, I sigh-call and I get no improvement on Qh river. And it turns out he had 30k, which was quite a bit more than I expected. One of these days I will start to properly check out stack sizes before acting. He had AJo for top pair, for what it's worth.

I double up shortly after though with K9ss after raising half my stack pre only to see an OMC flatcall (!) the raise. We do however get a fortunate 9-2-3 flop one spade, and I jam for 8k (I made it 8500 pre). He snap-calls with AKhh (lol ok?), but I hold up on 5s turn and Kd river.

Then we get moved table and win two pots where I jammed QJo and AQo over limps (former was SB vs BB), and shortly after we have actually made the 9-handed final table. But as shown in above screenshot, only the top 3 places would get paid.

I was short coming in but not insanely so, and the experience from South Point two days ago had taught me a lot about how to navigate such stack sizes. So I did not feel stressed at all. I managed to stay alive just fine, and even got in a value bet on J-2-9-2-6 after I checked A6o from BB. I bet out for one blind on the river, and the same OMC who had AK suited earlier showed up with the same hand this time. That's also why I did not jam my A6o from BB against two limpers even though I had 9 bb or something; I knew he could limp very big hands.

People get eliminated, and I also knock out the 5th place finisher with my KK vs A9o. Suddenly I have a good stack for the tournament, although the terrible OMC + the guy who I doubled up with J7s earlier are the clear chip leaders. There is also one OMC who is starting to get short.

A deal was briefly discussed by the short OMC, saying that we could give $800 to the two big stacks while me and him split around $500. I was a bit unsure about this deal, but thankfully the big stack said he just wanted to play it out for a bit longer. No deal.

Although I did make 1-2 small mistakes here and there, I thought my overall gameplay against this field was amaing and worked out really well. I jammed over some limps but was very careful about not overdoing it, and I was also able to make some big folds (such as folding AThh on Q-T-6 against the guy who always limped). He insta-jammed in front on the flop after calling my raise from BB, and showed QJo after I folded. This was probably my biggest mistake in the tourney, as I made it way too small pre and gave him good odds to call from BB.

Either way, the OMC shortie eventually gets knocked out, we are three players left, and the talk immediately goes towards some kind of ICM-deal. The floor tells us they cannot facilitate exact numbers for us, but if we agree on something they are happy to pay out whatever those amounts are.

We do a quick chip count and find out that the chip leader has 420k, the nitty guy has 240k and I have 185k. Eventually we decide on a deal where CL gets $1100, the nitty guy gets $805 and I get the remaining $800. Maybe I gave the chip leader a bit too much money as he was not a good player, but I do think the amount I got is very close to what an ICM-calculator would have shown.

As 'DogFace' said earlier in his insightful comment after the South Point tourney; maybe my destiny is to become a tournament player instead? I have been struggling with cash decisions, but both these tournaments have been pretty much spot-on from my end.

I was very happy with the score, but I could also feel my body getting cold and achy all over. So after some quicky food at Caesars, I just took an Uber back here to NYNY for a warm bath + chill and update this TR.

I will try to take a shower now and see if I have the energy for another game tonight. But it might not be the best idea considering I am feeling quite fatigued. Let's see.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 30t 45min
Won/lost: +$938 USD
Hourly rate: +$30.5 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: +$2051 USD (2 played)

Play both IMO.

Cash is so much more dependable and has less variance. I use my cash winnings to fund tourney buy ins - both satellites (which IMO are the softest of all tournies) and direct buy ins where appropriate.

That way when the inevitable tourney busts happen, I know it’s not ‘my’ money (it is…but you know what I mean) and hopefully one day I can have the big tourney deep run and mega bink without it costing me the earth

The problem of course is that they are very different skill sets. MTT success boils mainly down to 3 things - pre flop, short stack and ICM. And cash games don’t help with them

Great run!!

Any final table is a great final table. Sounds like you got a pretty good deal, too… better than the third place finish would have been.

Nice score. I will never discourage a poker player from embracing the dark side of tournaments.

Quick thoughts:

1. I think you are probably a little too hard on yourself re: some of these cash hands. I'm not sifting through every HH with a fine comb and I'm not a cash expert anyway, but mostly it seems like you are playing well. If anything, you may actually be giving opponents too much credit and playing a bit too wide. You may be applying 5/10 thought processes to these 1/3 games, where the play is often very ABC. If there's an adjustment to make, it might actually be tightening up on some of these turns and rivers where you are in marginal spots against ABC players. Maybe we trim a few of our lightest peels against these players. We can probably take the clear black-and-white spots and surrender a few of the gray spots where we are hoping to turn more equity or a favorable bluffing card. Those plays seem more valuable in tough fields with thinner edges.

2. It's been my experience that when tournaments reach the final 4 or 5 spots, people will typically want to chop. I'm all for chopping if the structure is fast, we're getting a fair deal, and/or we're happy with the payout. I've been involved in several chops in the past. That being said, I think it also reflects that...

3. Most people are very uncomfortable playing short-handed. This is especially true in casual NLHE tournaments where the remaining players are recreational types who might only get down to a spot like this once or twice per year. It's likely that they have no real experience playing short-handed, so they are less comfortable and more prone to making major errors. I suspect this is part of the reason why people like Jeremy Becker and Chris Hull have cleaned up in the Wynn dailies/nightlies. They are very familiar playing final tables, so they're able to mash the more inexperienced players in the endgame. That doesn't mean chopping is bad, but if we are comfortable in these spots then we can push a big edge. The higher the stakes and the tougher the field, the less this concept applies.

Absolute madness at Aria! Open 8s9s and get 3 callers. Flop is 892 and long story short we pack it in for an $800 pot vs 22. Turn 8!

Chugging my Modelo then snap leaving:

Oh wait, it must have been a flush, not a boat, because it had like KQJ all same suit. I got confused.

Find some of this stuff. Most hotel gift shops have it. It's basically heavy duty vitamin C along with some other stuff. It goes fizzy when you drop it in a glass of water.

I always ask the dealer for a count when facing a jam. Sometimes even if I have no intention of calling, so I can more closely track what my opponents have.

This is a problem with CET casinos. It was so nice earlier in the week at the Venetian when our chop was figured out by the tourney officials. They did ALL the work, and except for a minor drama getting me the right payout, which they did, it was a smooth transaction.

Well are you going to love this: Horseshoe is running a freeroll promotion. From March through late May, a mere hundred hours qualifies you for a WSOP-centric freeroll, featuring $10,000 Main Event seats to the first 25 places, a bunch of $1000 coupons, presumably to use for buy-ins, and also a bunch of Mystery Bounty tournament seats.

We back at it!

3 full days to go until the trip ends.

We cooking again. Feel a bit shite so might call it in an hour or two to take a break. Table is crazy tho, one $4000 stack.

Interesting spot for those of you who read. You all know that I don’t really share HHs that much, I leave that for BigWhale. Anyway, here it is:

Crazy table, mix of OMCs and a drunk mega stack sitting on $4000.

OMC opens to $15, one call I call mid with AsQx and so does 3 people behind. 6 ways to a flop of AT3 two spaces. $90 in the pot and now the OMC who opened pre makes it $150, a massive overbet into a pot of $90.

He is playing $500 effective and I am playing $1100.

As played I think we have 2 options:

1, raise and commit, make it like $400 or even jam. Cannot call in that spot as there are no cards that we essentially call / fold to. So based on that I see the only option to raise, but then we have a $4000 stack right behind us.

2, fold. This was the line I went with. I’m either super behind / dead or I have him crushed if hes just clicking buttons with something like JJ.

Anyway I ended up folding and so did everyone else and he claimed he had JJ.