By Landlord79 on April 12th, 2007

I sat down w/ a few buddies at the Horseshoe in Shreveport this Good Friday. Here’s a brief hand recap for this 13 hour session. I got down early and borrowed a bill from my buddy after dropping 1.5 buyins, I was able to recover but at the expense of a lot of time. I got some good fortune by hitting a promotion by the card room that put me up to even.

Early on (around 10am) the table was very LP, but past 5pm the table turned very LAG, even to the point of being maniacal. I should have changed tables, but didn’t realize this until I was almost ready to go.
All opinions are welcome because I really want to improve my game. This will be more hand overviews and not very math intensive, so I apologize in advance for the lack of detail. Please think in terms of macro-game, Shania and playing style and let me have it!

1. Sat down and limped w/ 22, flopped a set and was immediately up by ~$100

2. Limp-called w/ 99 in MP. The flop came A-10-9. My cousin led out for 7/8’s of the pot from the blinds, I called trying to keep the pfr in. PFR folds. Turn is another 10 and my cousin leads for 2/3 of the pot, I call once again trying to just keep the pot small. The river is a total blank, and I lead for the ¼ of the pot in an attempt to keep it as small as possible. He turns over A-10 and rakes a big pot. Coincidentally, this 9s full won the $200 for me that I wrote about above, which is part of the reason why I stayed w/ the hand.

3. I limped w/ 6c-9c. The flop was A-K-x 2 suited in clubs, the middle aged man to my left bet $10 (pot but still a small lead bet) after being checked to. A Hispanic man (who I had seen at the 2/5 NL table 2 weeks prior) smooth calls and I call. The turn is another club, the Hispanic man leads out for $15 and I raise it to $45 in an attempt to build the pot. The middle-aged man smooth calls (alarm bells go off here) and the Hispanic man calls as well. The river is a dud and the Hispanic man and I both check hoping for a cheap showdown. The middle aged man bets out $97 and is all in, the Hispanic man calls and after much deliberation I call as well hoping that my flush is goot. The middle aged man shows the nuts and the Hispanic man shows the flopped str8. [Spewing, I know]

4. The seat opens to the left of the middle-aged man and I jump in it as he has won several big hands and has run up to almost $1k. I have 6d-5d and limp from MP behind at least 2 limpers. The flop comes 5 or 6 handed w/ the 3-4-7, 2 suited in clubs (again). The middle-aged man leads out for $15, which I recognize as a semi-bluff from the hand above. I raise him to $45, which is about a 2/3’s of the pot raise. We’re heads up and the turn brings the 3rd club. He checks to me and I don’t take the bait and just check-behind. The river is a dud, and he bets out a smallish $15 which I have to call just in case. He, of course, shows the flush.

5. I complete from the SB w/ 9-9, the flop hits low and I win a decent pot on a low flop and turn. The river is a K and goes ck-ck.

6. I have a long streak of unplayable cards, then hit a wave of cards. Not sure of the order of this hand and hand 7, but they came relatively close together and influenced my table image and preflop action. I had been making a standard raise to $11 and getting some respect, winning some and losing some. I’m dealt A-A in LP and make my standard raise, 3 callers (including a calling station who I’ll refer to as the lady and a LAG who I’ll call the old man.) The flop hits a very safe rainbow 9 high. The lady makes her standard weak lead bet of $10 and I elect to smooth call on such a nice board trying to keep some bad players in the pot. The old man and the Hispanic man both call, BONUS! The turn is another weak card and I raise the ladies $15 turn bet to $45 and take the pot down uncontested.

7. I having raised the 2 hands prior to this one, I elect to keep up my momentum w/ Q-Jo and make my standard raise again, 3 callers. The flop comes Q-10-9 rainbow, I’m checked to and make a pretty standard $25 CB. 2 folds and an old fishy man pushes in on me. I don’t sense much strength from him and I flopped a big draw plus my TPGK. I insta-call his $35 AI and he shows 2nd pair with a mutter that he thought I was just pushing.

8. I have JJ in the SB, and just complete the bet vs a table full of limpers. I don’t like JJ in this spot against a large field of calling stations unless I flop a set or get a really good flop. The flop comes K-10-4 and I ck’d blind. It checks to the lady 2 places to my right who makes her standard weak lead of $10. I put her on a pair of 10s and just call incase someone behind me is trapping. Everyone folds. The turn is a blank, and I check to her knowing she will bet out weaker than I would bet into her whether she has a big hand or a weak hand. She bets out $20 and I just call again. The river is another dud, and I give her the rope again, but she surprises me and makes a very big bet. She doesn’t do this much w/o a big hand so I go into an info gathering routine of counting out her bet plus a hefty raise. She doesn’t give her “crap I missed my hand and he’s gonna bet tell” of holding her cards in a folding fashion which I have seen her do several times, so I put her on a stronger hand. I ask her some questions and she answers strong so I fold my JJ face up and she shows K4 for top and bottom pair.

9. Raise pf w/ KQs and get 2 calls from some young guys who have just sat down. I take it down on a whiffed flop w/ a standard CB. About this time the table dynamic has changed with the addition of a drunk and a maniac.

10. I raise pf w/ QQ and get called by the drunk who I bluffed out in the hand above and the lady. The flop comes K high and they check to me. I make a standard CB and the drunk comes over the top of me and shows K-2 when I fold.

11. Standard raise of $16 w/ AQ from ML position. The old man on the button is the only player to call me to see this flop (I really wish that drunk guy or the maniac would have been in on this pot). The flop falls QQ6 and I know that I have a hand that won’t get much action unless my opponent catches up. So I give a little act and ck-ck, the flop and ck-ck the turn. The river brings a beautiful 6 which looks like a great bluffing card. So I grab $100 in $25 chips and fling them out into the pot like I am buying it. The old man unbelievably calls the $100 bet into the $32 pot. He shows a 6 for a smaller boat. (I didn’t bet those $25 chips all day long either, I always used $5 chips when making bets. I still can’t believe that guy called here!)

12. I raised w/ KJs from LP after several limpers. A fish in the SB reraises AI for $17 more and gets 3 callers. He had shown K-6s earlier when he reraised AI but got his money back due to a dealer error {dealer mucked his cards}. So I elected to call with huge odds despite my holding. Missed the flop completely and dumped my trap hand.

13. I had KK in MP, raised to $15 after some limpers, 2 callers. The flop comes A high, the drunk cks, I bet $25 and the old man raises all in for $37 more. The drunk folds and I fold my Kings face up. He shows A-2.

14. It’s a limped pot and I call w/ J9s from the cutoff. The flop hits 9-3-4, 2 suited with hearts. The drunk bets $20 and the maniac calls. I don’t figure them for much and feel that a raise will take the pot down, so I make it $50 to go (a bit small I know). They both call. The turn brings another heart and they come out swinging, I of course, fold. The drunk shows a pair of 3s on the hand but is trumped by the maniac’s 4s. Not sets, pairs…

15. I called a small pre-flop raise w/ 77 and flopped a set w/ the 6-7-10 board. The lady makes it her standard $10 on the flop, the maniac calls and I make it $50 to go, they both call. The turn is a horrid 8 and the lady goes all in for $65 total and the maniac just calls. I’m tired and on tilt at this point and decide that I’m getting enough odds to call for full house odds. The river is a worthless K and I make a huge error of thinking the hand went ck-ck and show my set of 7s. The maniac mucks his hand and the lady shows 10-6 for 2 pair. I don’t feel that this hand was played well, but it had a good result.

16. Finally, I feel that my biggest leaks for the day were set-mining, calling pfr’s w/ AQ and AJ hands. It’s not so bad when the A is suited, but these are leaks otherwise.

17. I raised w/ AK off and got reraised, but still elected to call w/ plenty of pf callers and the size of the reraise wasn’t huge. The flop missed and I had to dump Anna.

All criticism is welcome, please comment on aggression and plays. This is a $1/2 game, so I don’t focus as much on the math since the other players don’t have any idea what a shut out bet is anyway. Mostly it’s reading players and showing down the best hand. I recognize now that all of my reraises were quite small. That is probably an area to improve in.

Thanks in advance,
Landlord79

By Landlord79 on April 12th, 2007

I sat down w/ a few buddies at the Horseshoe in Shreveport this Good Friday. Here’s a brief hand recap for this 13 hour session. I got down early and borrowed a bill from my buddy after dropping 1.5 buyins, I was able to recover but at the expense of a lot of time. I got some good fortune by hitti...

By Landlord79 on May 16th, 2007

A friend and I arrived at the Horseshoe about 5pm on Friday the 11th. We had called in 30 minutes out to put our name on the list and sure enough, we were close to the top of the $1/2NL list when we got there. It didn’t take me but a second to clear up an issue I had concerning the reward points from the last session that I had played here. I had played a 13.5 hour session last month and when I checked my players card online the preceding Monday I didn’t see the matching rewards dollars on my account. The PRM assured me that it would be taken care of and sure enough, when I ordered my food later that night, there was plenty enough points to order my buddy and I an excellent meal each.

Three or four tables were empty when we arrived, but within minutes the PRM had started a new table for us and we were off and running.

The room is still my favorite so far, but the tables are starting to shed a little. I had my small space picked off quickly though, so it didn’t bother me for very long.

I’m starting to recognize more and more faces at the Shoe, those that I want to play against and those that I prefer to avoid. Early on, there were a few weak spots at the table, but I knew one of them wouldn’t last long, I’d seen him before and he’d always gone busto really quick! He wasn’t there for more than an hour or two before he was broke, but unfortunately, I didn’t end up with any of his money. I made my best laydown of the night when I played 5c-4c on the button against this player and the flop fell 6-5-4. The lady at the table (I’ll refer to her again later) led out into this pot and was quickly raised by the early exit’er. He plays a very loose passive game, so when the tight lady bet and he raised her, I saw that the jig was up and I laid down my bottom 2 pair. The lady ended up folding and the raiser triumphantly showed his 3-2 off suit. I had dropped about $80 due to this hand and some middle pocket pairs not winning at the showdown (88 vs. 99 and such). I feel that I was playing well and aggressive, but the cards just weren’t going my way. I was quick to reload.

Before I knew it the table had gotten very tough with the addition of two regulars into the game. One of them wasn’t too bad because you could just avoid him, but the other was someone who put lots of pressure on you and wasn’t afraid to get his money in the middle. I was luckily very card dead in this time period when there weren’t any major weak spots on the table and I wasn’t in very many pots at all. I did catch AcKc UTG and I made my standard “UTG light” raise to $7. A loose player on the end and the crafty regular in the BB called me. The flop fell, Ad-10d-3d and the BB checked, I bet $20 into the pot and the LAG folded. Unfortunately, the BB came over the top of me for $60 total. This isn’t the kind of spot that I like to be in against a tough player, I thought of pushing my stack in on him, but thought better of it due to the all diamond flop and I tossed my cards into the muck. The BB claimed that he had 2 pair, but I really don’t think he had much of anything besides the knowledge that without a big diamond in my hand I couldn’t make that call.

My big boo-boo of the night came when I thought I had K-3o in the BB. The table limped around for me and I rapped the table to see a flop. The flop was a nice one for me, but scary at the same time, K-K-8. Being in the blinds, I just checked my trips hoping that someone would bet at the pot and get a few callers to build the pot. Sure enough the player to my immediate left bet the standard $10 on the flop but only got one caller. The turn was an off suit 4 which disappointed me because I was hoping for some face cards to improve my hand and generate some action from a floater. Once again I checked which was very passive, but I just didn’t feel good at all about my kicker. The tough player to my left bet out $15 which was big enough to get the other player to fold and small enough to keep me in the hand. The river was a blank and I made a defensive bet of $20 because I didn’t want to call a big bet with my no kicker trips. The old man called and I turned my hand over to reveal K-4o, not K-3o. The villain mucked his hand and I still hadn’t realized that I had a full house. I caught quit a hazing for this hand for the next 5 minutes.

Twice I played J-10 in late position and flopped two pair. The first time w/ a 7 on the flop and the 2nd time w/ a 9. On the first one, there was a bet and a raise ahead of me and I just smooth called on the flop. The turn was a 9 and the old lady led out again and the flop raiser folded. She was betting small so I just called her once again. The river was a total brick and she made about a $35 bet that I paid off. She turned over J-8s and raked in a nice pot. The 2nd time I hit 2 pair w/ J-10 I had called a raise to $5 in the CO. The table checked to me on the flop and I bet out $20 to see where I was at on this extremely coordinated board. 4 players called me and I could have puked!! The turn is a King and I wanted my $20 back, but the table checked to me again and I just checked behind. The river was a brick and we all checked once again. I turned over my two pair and everyone mucked. Then, some maniac new guy who had made the raise to $5 pf tried to pull his cards out of the muck and claim that he had accidentally folded his hand. The rules stood and I raked in a very important (as you will soon see) pot.

I was back to break even just before the first J-10 hand, which was about mid way through my session. That hand dropped me back to $80 or so down and I had to fight to stay there for most of the night as this table was so tough. After a long drought and getting down about $130 loser, the 2nd J-10 hand put me back up to only $30 to 40 down.

Enter the BIG PAIR!!! I hadn’t seen a big pair all night. So when I looked down to see pocket Kings, I’m sure my heart went to racing. UTG limped and I raised to $15 from 2nd position and pointed out to the table that I hadn’t raised pf in over an hour or so and that they had better all fold because I was playing uber tight! Three players called my pfr including the old lady mentioned above and both of the tough regulars. Ugghh! The flop was favorable one for my kings though, w/ a J-9-3 and 2 clubs. My Kings were both red. I definitely don’t like the clubs much but when the tough guys check to me I make a $35 bet into the $60 pot. This bet should accomplish 2 things: 1. It will under-represent my over pair and 2. It should draw out and string along any draws that are getting close but incorrect odds. My dilemma about the tough players in the hand quickly vanished as the old woman pushed a 20 stack of $5 chips into the pot for a raise. They both folded which left me a situation with a vulnerable over pair on a drawy board against a lady who has shown down the goods all night. I hadn’t seen her play a draw in this fashion and I really didn’t think she had a set. I was really hoping that she didn’t have a set, and my mind kept going back to A-J. Deciding that she had A-J, I reached for my original $35 bet and replaced it with a $100 stack of reds and declared the ever so scary words of “I’m all in!”

The 3 seconds after you utter these words are always the quietest and most stressful. If the villain beats you into the pot you might as well muck your hand, push them the pot and go home a loser, but if they delay past this period, you are usually a winner. She definitely didn’t beat me into the pot and I knew what her hand would be before she eventually called and turned it over. The turn and river blanked out for her and I drug a pot of just over $500, my largest to date. My hands were shaking and my heart was racing as I stacked red chip after red chip. I was swimming in them! I know it took me 10 minutes to calm down and get all of those chips stacked, I was so excited that I had to keep taking breaks and let my heart slow down.

The rest of the night was uneventful and I cashed out about 20 minutes earlier than planned so that I wouldn’t drop below the $200 profit mark. I had sat at the toughest table I have sat at out side of Tunica and come out a winner! Overall, it was a very good night at the Bossier City Horseshoe!

By Landlord79 on May 16th, 2007

A friend and I arrived at the Horseshoe about 5pm on Friday the 11th. We had called in 30 minutes out to put our name on the list and sure enough, we were close to the top of the $1/2NL list when we got there. It didn’t take me but a second to clear up an issue I had concerning the reward points...

By Landlord79 on June 4th, 2007

I went to play cards at my favorite location this weekend, the Horseshoe- Bossier City. I actually rented a room this time and was able to play some shorter sessions. I really like staying at the place where you are playing because it is so convenient to take a break. The hotel room was awesome, though I did get a smoking room instead of a non-smoking room.

The poker room was up to its usual high standards. They created a new $1/2 NL table for us when we got there around 7pm and soon enough the entire poker room was schooling with fish. The table this trip was much softer than the previous trip and a lot more talkative which makes playing that much more fun.

The only two big pairs that I had all weekend came semi-early. I had 9-9 and K-K, both of which won uncontested with my continuation bets. I know 9-9 isn’t a big pair, but when it is the 2nd biggest pair that you have all weekend is 9-9, you can call it a big pair.

I put in an image play early to try to break up the image that my card deadness was building. I raised 10s-9s UTG to $6, which didn’t deter anyone from calling. I think the hand was checked down and I flipped over a 9 at the showdown for a pair of nines for a losing hand.

Playing AK, especially from the blinds, is a very slippery slope. I see people taking it to the river unimproved all the time and losing their whole stacks with Ace high at the showdown. I play AK from the blinds in a very simple way, if it is limped around to me, I make a big enough raise that no one wants to play with me unless they have a very premium hand which they have slow-played. If they reraise my bet, I can get away from my hand pretty easily, since AK doesn’t play well into a 3-bet pot in cash games. In tournaments, it plays very differently, but in cash games, AK is usually behind to a 3-bet pf. I played one hand in just this manner and sure enough won the limps uncontested.

Up until this point I have just broken-even as all of the pots that I have won have been small ones. Then comes the tricky stuff that either makes you or breaks you. A LAG raised it up to $7 pf from UTG and I elected to call in MP with 6s-5s. A few more players called the smallish pfr and we saw a flop of Ks-Qs-5h. The raiser led out for the standard $10 flop bet and I of course call with my flush draw plus bottom pair. I might could have raised here, but I had a lot of people left to act behind me and I wanted good odds on my draw as well as information on what everyone else was going to do. Only the player to my immediate left called and the pot was good. The turn was a beautiful Js to complete my flush draw and once again the raiser bet out again, this time for $20. Something about his bet seemed strong and I still had another player to act behind me who has acted like he was on a draw so far. I elected just to call and see what the player behind me was going to do. Something smelled fishy about this hand and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I’m not laying down a flush with this action and a non-paired board. The guy to my left, Jerry was his name, also called which really started to make me nervous. The river was actually a bad card for my hand as it made my flush much weaker. One of the two remaining 5’s fell off on the river and I now had to worry about full houses out there besides bigger flushes. Once again the pfr’r led out again, this time for $40. With the paired board and the gnawing feeling in my gut, I just called the $40 and held my breath as Jerry contemplated his action. I was very relieved when he just called. The UTG raiser turned over A-10o for a broadway straight, (I knew he had a little something) and Jerry turned over AK for two pair, Kings and Fives. I took down my first big pot of the night and was now playing with the houses money!

Not too much later I caught an auto-play hand, which worked out great from the SB. I love to check blind on the flop from the SB with all kinds of hands and situations as it conceals the strength of a slow-play when you flop a monster hand. It was once again a limped pot and I had 8s-4s in the SB, I completed for $1 and Jerry checked. I checked blind as the dealer was preparing the flop, and oh what a flop it was. K-8-8 and Jerry immediately pushed all in for $37. The other 3 players in the hand folded out to me and I insta-called Jerry’s push. He turned over Kx and I had him drawing to 2 outs. This wasn’t a big pot, but it does illustrate the value and uses of checking blind into the flop.

As my game has improved, I’m starting to play more hands from good position. In the past I have always folded A-9o and other similar hands because it is just so hard to figure out where you are at after the flop when an ace hits. It’s a little easier when 2 aces hit the flop because there is only 1 other ace out and high cards may fall on the turn and river to counterfeit any kicker trouble that you may be in. Also, if the board pairs then you are likely splitting the pot with the other Ace or you are taking the whole thing down yourself uncontested. If you are fortunate enough to hit your kicker, you are usually good.

One man had already left the table once due to a case of the busts and had just sat back down to try it again. It was another limped pot and the flop was A-A-Qr with me holding an A-9o in the CO. Mr. Busto led the flop for $10, which I was happy to smooth call behind 1 other player. I’m not sure if anyone else called, because I knew where the other ace was based on the way that Mr. Busto had bet his hand and reacted to the flop. The turn was a beautiful 9, which put me at ease about my hand being goot. Sure enough, Mr. Busto leads the turn for $20 and I value raise him to $50 even. He, of course, calls with his Ace and we’re heads up. The river was an 8 and Mr. Busto pushed all in on me, I called with out even counting the chips out and flipped my hand over to send him to the Busto stop for the 2nd time that night. I think that I netted about $150 on that hand and was now toting a >$500 stack.

I talked my buddy, BJJIII, into getting some money off the table because his stack was bigger than mine and he had quite a big swing to get there. You definitely need to read his session review if you want to hear about playing big pairs and flopping dozens of sets. We also wanted to look the El Dorado room over that was just across the bridge and this looked like a good stopping point to do it. I’m going to do a card room review of it, but I’ll say one thing about it right now, “It ain’t the Horseshoe-Bossier!”

I counted out a $315 profit for our 4 hours at the Shoe and we headed over to the El Dorado.
The tables seemed pretty soft at the El Dorado, but you definitely had to make a hand to win any money. I ended up flopping TPTK one time to split a pot with a short-stack, but other than that, there were no hands to talk about from the El Dorado. We only played for about an hour on the west bank of the Red River, and I dropped $40 in the process.

We headed back to the home turf of the Shoe and the table that we had left bare was now teaming with fish and had 2 new huge stacks harvesting a profit off its felt. The poker room manager tried to seat us at a different table, but with one look at the line up on that table, I didn’t even sit down to join the grind. I walked back over to our original table and fortunately a seat opened up just as I did. So, lickety split, I grab my chips and hopped back over into the softest seat in the room. I quickly opened with 3-3 from MP1 and took it down with a continuation bet, then tried it again w/ 5-5 and didn’t get any respect. The duo netted me $15, so I was happy with the results.

I had a very interesting fellow on my right, who I found out had been playing poker professionally for 3 years. He was disabled and in a powered wheelchair, which was a great cover for him, because his mind was as sharp as a razor blade. He was abusing these fish left and right and had built his stack up to $800 or so. He’d only been there 2 hours; in fact, he had just sat down when we were getting up to leave for the El Dorado. I don’t know if I should be upset at myself for taking my profit and running before these fish started spewing their monies or if I should be glad that I missed that guys onslaught. It could go either way I guess, but we made the safe play by cashing in a good profit, I’m never mad about that.

There was nothing very eventful that happened at that table, and when the other big stack at the table left along with a few others, we decided that it was time to shut it down for the night. I really hated to see that lady leave too; she was a big over-bettor and didn’t seem to have much game. I ended up losing $70 in that two-hour span, but was still hanging onto a $200 profit for the trip.

We took a six-hour sleep break and woke up to go at it again.

I started off on the wrong foot early, but was reading players well and playing well, I just made 1 big wrong decision and one case of bad variance. Early on I had picked out whom I wanted to play hands against. I knew the action players and was ready to do battle. I picked up Ac-7c in the BB and checked my option in a limped pot. The flop was a lovely Jc-6s-3c and I led into the field with the standard flop bet of $10. I made this bet because I knew it would get called by a lot of the loose players who wouldn’t have much of anything and I wanted to get some money into the pot before my flush hit and my action dried up. Sure enough, I get called in 2 places and by one of the players that I really want to play a hand against. The river was the As and I doubled my bet with my newly improved hand. The loose player calls and luckily the table big stack folded. The river was the 8s and I am all out of cards on my nut flush draw. Common wisdom says to check-call the river here trying to induce a bluff and also trying to keep the pot small with a one pair hand. I felt like I was good here since my Ace hit on the turn and my hand would be concealed, so I bet out $25 into the $80 pot as a blocking/value bet. The villain surprised me and raised the bet to $100. This screamed bluff to me but it was a very big bet to call as a bluff buster. I was getting ready to lay my hand down but I started paying attention to the demeanor of the villain. He had his hand covering his mouth and was from time to time rubbing his nose with his pointer finger. Joe Navarro calls this a pacifying gesture and this confirmed in my head that the villain was bluffing, so I reluctantly called. To my chagrined, the villain turned over the 9s-4s for the runner-runner flush. BBUUUIICCCKKK!!!

Later, I watched the villain once again rub his nose while covering his mouth and sure enough he turned over flopped trips, too bad the big stack on my right had flopped a boat. He used the pacifying gesture as a tell of strength instead of a tell of weakness, this was good information as I was able to take him for a ride on the value bus a few rounds later.

The table had degenerated into a pissing contest between the (Doctor), the villain in the previous hand, and the big stack on my right. Both men were of Arabic decent and appeared very well educated, but the Dr’s raises and reraises meant nothing. The big stack was simply bullying him around and he didn’t like it at all. The game was now $1-2-5-10 and lots of money was changing hands. I took the good doctor for a ride on the value bus w/ A-Jo, but unfortunately I tripped up on the river with another Ace that caused him to fold without paying me off. I needled him a bit because he had a big mouth and was talking much smack and I told him that I had just bluffed him off his hand. “You should have seen your face when that Ace hit!” and boy was he steaming!

I won a $40 pot off the doctor w/ J-10o on the flop on another $1-2-5-10 hand. It came a safe J-4-4 flop and I bet $25 to take it down uncontested.

I was sitting on a stack that left me even for the trip when this hand came up. I had A-Ko and had been card dead all morning, so my pre-flop raises were nearly extinct. The good doctor had been gone an hour or so and a group of locals who played in home games together had filled in the empty seats. I could tell that they were generally tight and straightforward, so mostly I would avoid them except with a big hand. There were 2 limpers ahead of me and I bumped it to $15. One of the locals called me from the SB and the two limpers folded. The flop was Ax-5h-4h and the old man led into me for $15. I really didn’t put him on a set, but thought that a flush draw or a smaller Ace was possible. As far as physical tells go, I got nothing from him when the flop hit. The Arabic man on my right said to me, “You better be glad that you didn’t let me see that flop, I’d have kicked your @$$ with it.” This sounded like 2 pair to me or a flush draw because he played his draws very aggressively. So that seemed to strengthen my read by discounting some of the flush outs and set possibilities. I raised $25 more on top of the donk bet, feeling like I was milking the old man a little. He thought for a minute and I hoped he would just fold, but he came over the top of me for $100 more. I have learned that all tricky-old men are capable of this play with virtually anything, it is just a good spot to raise because the person in my position can’t make the call with a top pair only hand. The player in my spot has to be a good player and very capable of laying down a hand for this play to work. I am very capable of laying down a hand and they of course pull this play on me all of the time.

Back to the action, I still didn’t put him on much though I didn’t have much information on him since he hadn’t played very many hands. I really thought he had AK like me or he had AQ and was drawing slim. And as much as I hate to call people when they’re on flush draws, I knew this was a spot that I would have to do it here. I rechecked my cards for a heart, and there was none. Mustering up my courage, I pushed $140 into the pot and declared that I was all in. He had to call the last $40 as a matter of principle. We both held our cards tight as the dealer turned over a 4 on the turn and a Jack on the river. That jack stabbed me as soon as it hit, I knew it was a kill card. The old man flipped over his A-Jo and I threw my AK face up into the muck to let everyone see how good of a play I had made and how unlucky I had been. Two people at the table announced that they had folded a Jack, what a crappy draw to lose to a one outer. It was still the right play that left me as a 96% favorite, he did have 3 tying outs, but I’ll take 80%-4%-16% every day of the week and put it all into the middle.

So, final tally of this weekends trip: Loser ($196.00) BOOOOO!!

I feel like I played well and was reading well, but sometimes you can’t help how the cards fall. Eli Elezra has said it best; “In poker you can only make the best decisions you can and let the cards take care of themselves, while understanding that the cards do not always take care of you.”

I’d also like to throw a shout out to Jerry who I played with on Friday night. He’s a member of the USAF and was in town for a brief period of time. I’d like to say that I really appreciate what you and all of the members of our armed forces are doing, you guys are really loved and appreciated as you protect our rights on whatever battlefield you are on.

By Landlord79 on June 4th, 2007

I went to play cards at my favorite location this weekend, the Horseshoe- Bossier City. I actually rented a room this time and was able to play some shorter sessions. I really like staying at the place where you are playing because it is so convenient to take a break. The hotel room was awesome, ...

By Mr_Taterhead on June 4th, 2007

My fellow coworker (Landlord79) and I went over to Bossier City, LA to play some $1-$2 NL live poker this past weekend and the following is a session review/trip report from the weekend. Maybe he will post his review and we will have two different views of the same sessions.

We got over to the Horseshoe in Bossier at about 6 o’clock on Friday afternoon and after we checked into our hotel room at the ‘Shoe, which was at a discounted rate of $70 which is pretty good for a room on the weekend at the ‘Shoe, we headed on down to the poker room. We clocked in with the poker room manager and within 10 minutes we were sitting in seats 5 & 6 of a new table that was just being opened. The cards were in the air and our poker weekend was off and running.

Hand #3 at the table I am UTG and I immediately straddle, a couple guys limp and the SB makes it $20 to go. He had raised from the BB earlier and he ended up showing KQ off, good hand sir. BB smooth calls, I make it $50 straight with AQ-hearts on the straddle, both blinds call. Flop is A-J-X rainbow. Check, Check, I fire $60 at the pot and SB folds and the BB is thinking and thinking and thinking and then he goes AI, so I make a bad call and when the Q falls on the turn I think I just sucked out on him, but once the hand was over he showed me JJ for the set. Can someone say REBUY TABLE 10!!!!!! I am already one buyin down 3 hands into my session.

The next hand I call a raise with 6-7H in the BB and chased an OESD vs. the same douche that showed me the set. My straight missed and I tried to bluff the river and he looked me up. So within 4 hands into this session I am already down over $300 and I have only $180 left for the entire trip. BOY THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG TRIP.

So I rebuy what I have left in my pocket and I started playing screw tight. An orbit or so later the following hand comes up. I am in the CO or Highjack with a couple of limpers in the pot. I look down and see 10-10. I make it $17 to go and I get one caller from the blinds. Flop is J-10-x rainbow. YAHTZEEEEEEE!!! The blind leads out into me for $35, I smooth call. Blank on turn and we get it all in and he is drawing slim with J-10. River is not a Jack and I double up. AWESOME!!!

The very next hand, an EP guy makes $10-$15 to go and one guy calls I look down and see Q-Q. I bump it to $55 straight and both call. Flop is Qc-10c-4. The EP raiser open pushes for $87 the next guy cold calls and I obviously re-push with top set and the cold caller calls. The open pusher is drawing dead with QJ, cold caller had AK clubs and he misses his outs and I win a monster pot. SO MUCH FOR BEING STUCK!!!!

I now have $540 on the table, but I am in for $480, so I am ready to take an hour break and get some of my monies off the table. Landlord 79 and I cash out and I am UP $64 for my trip. We head over to the Eldorado Casino to see what is going on and what a crap hole. I promptly lose about $80 by just folding and folding after I get 3 bet OOP. I had to dump KQ and AQ from MP when the CO and Button re-raised me. DON’T EVER GO TO THE ELDORADO CASINO POKER ROOM.!!! Its gotta be one of the worst poker rooms in the world.

We cash out for night and head to bed at about 2:30am on Sat morning. We get up at 7:30 and shower and get down to the poker room at the ‘Shoe and try to get a hold of some of the drunks that are still playing from the night before and boy it didn’t take long.

I call a PF raise of $15 from a live player with 8-8, flop is Q-8-x and I get it all in on the blank turn vs. AQ. Its always fun getting it in when villain is drawing dead. After I bust the live one I change tables, and get on the same table with Landlord79. This $1-$2 table probably has close to 4.5K on it. I pretty much pick on the weak spots and chip up to about $450 or so and then the hand of all hand happens. This hand happens about an hour before we are set to leave.

As usual 7 players limp I am in the BB and look down and see the RED ROCKETS, I make it $20 to go and UTG+1 who calls and has me covered. The flop is K high all diamonds. UTG+1 has shown aggressive tendencies when checked to. Of course I check with the over pair and nut flush draw. She auto fires $60 at it and I smooth call. The turn is an off suit Q and I start to think to myself. Oh boy this could be bad. I check and she fires another $100 bet. I pushed AI to $355 with a check raise and once she didn’t insta-call I knew I was golden. She ended up finally calling $255 with you guessed it, A-Qd. Gosh you gotta love live poker!!!!!!!! Her 2 outer misses and I rake in a $900 pot. This is the biggest pot I have ever won and it must have taken me over 5 minutes to stack my chips. I play one more round and get up and head to the house.

I ended up winning about $900 during this trip and I can’t wait till we get to go again.

By Mr_Taterhead on June 4th, 2007

My fellow coworker (Landlord79) and I went over to Bossier City, LA to play some $1-$2 NL live poker this past weekend and the following is a session review/trip report from the weekend. Maybe he will post his review and we will have two different views of the same sessions. We got over to the H...

By Landlord79 on June 24th, 2007

Horseshoe, Bossier City, LA
6/23/07

One thing that I am starting to realize in live play is that table selection is vastly more important than it is for online play. Equally important is being able to change gears to the needed style for the table. Walking into the Shoe this Saturday, I was feeling great about my game and well rested. Upon being seated I immediately recognized one young player as a very tough and aggressive opponent that I had played with before. He already had a deep stack and was pushing the pace at the table. To his left was another aggressive player, but I had never played with him before. It seemed that one of them was raising pre-flop on 2 out of 3 hands, and I'm not talking about $6 or $8 raises, it was costing $17 to see a flop whether they were in position or in the blinds. The rest of the players looked decent, and there didn't seem to be a really soft spot anywhere. I decided to play some locked down poker until a good opportunity presented itself, or a weakness became apparent.

When I say locked down poker, I meant locked down poker. I was playing 5 to 10% of my hands. I was card dead except for one suited big slick, a low pocket pair and a few suited connectors that I was able to see the flop with. I was playing so tight and my cards were so bad that every time I raised pre-flop, everyone folded to me. One time, I raised with Q-4o from the button into 4 limpers just to steal the limps and loosen up my image. The young LAG had folded the hand and walked away from the table and I saw this as a great opportunity. Sure enough, everyone gave me tons of respect and folded their hands to my raise of $15. I'd been sitting at this table for about 3 hours when this happened and not too long after it I was able to see a flop with the Doyle Brunson hand 10-2o from the big blind. The flop just looked ripe for the picking, but it was a multiway pot and I was out of position. When the table checked around I decided to bluff at any safe looking card. The turn didn't disappoint me, it was an off suit deuce. I made a pot sized bet of $10 and got called by the button player to my right. He appeared to be on a draw, so once again I decided to bet any safe card that might fall off. The river was an absolute blank (for me and any draws), so I fired another $15 out and the button folded. Sometimes it pays to have a mega-tight image!!!

Not long later, the young LAG knocked the player to his left out and within an hour racked his chips and made a table change. I moved into his seat for a better table position, and luckily the table made a change to a new cast over the course of an hour and the dynamics were more to my liking. The mood lightened up, people were limping into every pot and it was everyone's Saturday night home game. I didn't take the TAG route pre-flop in this situation. I played more loose-passive pre-flop and TAG post-flop. There was another young LAG to my right, but it was easy to discern that he was a tournament player and lacked the skill and aggression to dominate this loose-passive table. I let this young guy from Dallas do most of the raising and pot building, I just wanted to see a flop and then out maneuver these guys. There was an Asian guy who seemed decent and then a bunch of old country men who wanted to see a flop with whatever. The one guy in hand 2, seemed to chase draws with no regard for pot odds or over-bets or whatever, I mean, he was the 2 -3 guy mentioned in that hand.

Hand 1

I'd bled down to $130 and had just decided to reload another $100. (Boy am I glad that I did this, as you'll soon see.) I'm in for $400 at this point. I've been card dead for the 5 hours that I had been here.

Most of table limps around to me and I limp Q 9 on the button.
Pot=$12
Flop= J[h] , 8[s] , 7[d] Table checks around and I am happy to check behind them in this spot to take off a free card.
Turn= 10[s]
SB bets $22, BB calls $22, UTG+1 folds, MP2 calls $22, CO folds, Hero raises to $70, SB calls $48, BB calls $48, MP3 folds.
Pot=$244
River= 3[d]
2 checks, Hero bets $100, SB calls $100, BB folds

Hero shows the nutz!!!!!!
SB show 10[d] , 9[h]
Hero wins $438.00
NICE SLOWPLAY, BOSS!!!!!

Hand 2

About 10 minutes later

The Asian man at the table is on monkey tilt after his K-K gets run down by 2[h] 3[h] on a 3-3-4 flop.

Hero is dealt 6[h] 6[s] in the CO

UTG+1 calls $2, MP1 calls $2, MP3 (Asian guy) raises to $12, Hero calls $12, button folds, SB calls $11, 2 folds, MP1 calls $10.
Pot=$49
Flop= 9[c] , 6[c] ,3[s],
2 checks, Asian guy bets $25, Hero calls $25, SB calls $25, MP1 folds.
Pot=$124
Turn= K[d]
2 checks, Hero bets $50, SB calls $50, Asian guy raises to $133 and is All in, Hero calls $83, SB calls $83.
Pot=$523
River=4[h]
SB checks, Hero checks

Asian guy shows K[c] , J[s] for a pair of Kings
Hero shows 6[h] 6[s] for a set of 6s
SB mucks

Hero wins $517.00

I didn't move all in on the river because I felt that the SB was on a draw and wouldn't call me anyway. He didn't have much behind regardless.

Hand 3

Villain (an intelligent looking black man) just sat down in the Asian guys vacant seat, so I don't know him and he doesn't know me. Everyone else knows that I am LP/A at this weak cash table (because LAG or TAG is just spinning your wheels.) I'm now the deepest stack at the table after winning those 2 huge pots, villain has ~$200.

Hero is dealt K[d] 10[d] on the button.

4 players limp, Hero calls $2, SB calls $1, BB checks
Pot= $14
Flop = A[d], K[s] , 2[d]
Everyone checks to me, Hero bets $10, 5 folds, CO (black man) calls $10
Pot= $34
Turn= 10 [h]
CO checks, Hero bets $25, CO raises to $75, Hero???

I feel like my flop and turn bets were good, I definitely know where my hand stands at this point. I don't see checking behind w/ 2 pair on the turn. Villain likely has the str8, but I have 9 flush outs + 4 Full house outs, I can't see laying this down here, ever. Villain could also check behind on the river for an easy showdown.

Hero calls $50
Pot=$184
River= A[c]
CO moves AI for $120, Hero folds.

The principle of keeping your stack full came in very good use during this session. Without that $100 rebuy in there just before those 2 big hands hit, my win would have been significantly shorter. Just to clarify for the readers who are trying to learn something from my blog, if you feel that you are a good player in the game that you are in, you should always try to keep your stack full. If you are at a skill disadvantage to the rest of the table, then keeping a shorter stack is better as it will limit your losses and limit many of the tougher decisions post-flop as all of your chips will be in the middle well before the river gets there... usually.

Just to point out how bad my hands were for this session, I had AKs 3x, AA, KK, QQ, JJ and 10-10 0x, AQ 0x, AJo 1x. Overall for the day, the cards were really dry and I only solidly hit the flop about 5 times, 2 of these made the difference in the whole trip though, along with the change in the table dynamics.

Total trip profit/(loss) = +$350 in 5.5 hours. IT WAS A GOOT DAY!!!!!

By Landlord79 on June 24th, 2007

Horseshoe, Bossier City, LA 6/23/07 One thing that I am starting to realize in live play is that table selection is vastly more important than it is for online play. Equally important is being able to change gears to the needed style for the table. Walking into the Shoe this Saturday, I was fe...

By Landlord79 on August 6th, 2007

What can I say? It was an awesome trip, I was reading people really well and the Horseshoe - Bossier City was up to its usual high standards, I couldn’t have scripted a better weekend. As I look through my notes I feel that I was clicking on all cylinders. I made one really sick call and one really big lay-down—lay-downs aren’t that tough for me, but playing sheriff isn’t my forte.

The ‘Shoe recently replaced some of the pads around their tables and, boy, was that a welcome home for my elbows. The staff was ever knowledgeable as a few situations came up that caused some players to get upset. Which, if someone could clarify for me, I know it isn’t against the rules to turn your hand face up to try to get a read, but is it unethical? I see nothing wrong w/ the play, especially if your opponent is already all in and you are considering a call. I never make the play myself, but I see nothing wrong with it in some isolated spots. In my opinion, it’s an example of Fancy Play Syndrome (FPS) and is often overused. This same player would later complain about getting aces or two pair chased down and eventually showed his hand a few times w/ the best of it to keep his opponent from calling w/ his draw. What a –EV play!!!

Out of the blocks strong!

Walking into the ‘Shoe around 2:30pm, I sat down w/ $200 and never looked back. I flopped a set of 4s from the SB on a 3[s]4[s]5[c] board to put me slightly ahead, then never started another hand w/ less than $200. The table was loose passive and didn’t like to call many big bets. They wanted to bet in $7 to $20 increments and control the pot and their stacks. (What a honey hole!!!) Within a few orbits, I picked up 65o in the BB and six of us saw the flop. The flop was Q74 rainbow, the SB and I checked, a MP player (who seemed to be there for the fun of gambling) bet $10, a LP player called, the SB folded and I called hoping to hit my open-ender. It got there w/ the 3[d] and I checked to bait the weakish player who had the betting initiative. He led for $40 and unfortunately the LP player folded, I elected to smooth call so that I wouldn’t run him out at this time. The river wasn’t a great card for me as it put 4 cards to the str8 on the board, but I fired out $100 on the river 5[c] and got called regardless by Q7o for the flopped 2 pair. I might have missed some money here but this hand boosted me up close to the big stacks at the table w/ $365.

Not long after this, I looked down at Jacks UTG and just limped in. I hate making a raise and getting called when OOP against 3 or 4 other players who could be playing any two cards (ATC). Six more players, including the blinds, elected to see the flop, which was a good one for my Jacks, but also a tricky one due to the number of draws and made hands possible. A[h]J[h]T[d]. With $12 in the pot, I led for $15 to disguise my hand and also give any drawers improper odds to call, between the ace, the hearts and the straight possibilities, I expected lots of action on this hand. Only the player from the hand above called, so I figured him for a draw and trying to get some revenge on me. The T[h] fell off on the turn, what a beautiful card!!! I fired $25 into the pot and was immediately called. The river was a third T and my hand value immediately shrunk up. I’m sure my face went to total disgust and was reinforced by my checking the Jacks full that I had. The happy gambler shook his head behind me too and said that he didn’t have it. He flipped over the K[h]9[h] for the nut flush—no good, sir!

But you had Top Top!!

Small pocket pairs are some of the easiest hands to play, you either hit a set on the flop or you dump them. From time to time you can pick off some CBs w/ missed over-cards, but most of the time they’re simply a fit or fold hand. When I looked down at a pair of ducks on the button, I was happy to call a $7 PFR w/ them. There were 3 players to the flop of A[s]2[c]8[s]. The BB checked, the PFR’r made a CB of $7 and I cranked the bet up to $25 on the button, praying that he had AK and would go broke w/ it. The BB folded and the PFR’r called. The turn was a total brick and the weak tight villain leads into this $70 pot w/ $10. I bump it up to $65 and he reluctantly folds claiming that he had AK. Whoa, whoa, whoa!?!?! What kind of weak tight fish lays that down in that spot! I was dejected that he could fold there. I mean, I can fold there, but what fish makes that fold? What a missed opportunity!

Would the real Slim Shady, please stand up

After the first 2 or 3 hours of just getting into unbelievably awesome +EV situations, I dried up for about an hour or two and didn’t even see a flop in this time period. Fortunately for me, we were joined by a couple of young 20-something guys who looked like they were straight off an international concert tour. One guy looked so much like Eminem aka Marshall Mathers that I had to convince myself a few times that it really wasn’t him. I mean, he had the white due-rag on his head and tattoos halfway down his arms and everything. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t play cards very well and they were sitting down at a table w/ me and about 4 other decent players.

The Eminem look alike, we’ll call him Marshall, was in way too many hands and gambling way too much. His roadie wasn’t in as many hands but would stuff his $100 buy-in into the pot on the flop on several questionable occasions. In fact, after an hour or so of folding, I made a move at a pot from LP and fired a CB into a King high flop. The roadie promptly check-raised me all in FTW. I made sure to point out to the table that the roadie had to have a good hand because I had been playing tight and hadn’t even seen a flop in about an hour. The rest of the table nodded in agreement. This provided a good reinforcement that I was now seen as a squeaky tight player and might get to pull off some moves due to my image.

”I won’t be pushed A-ROUND!!!” - KGB

About an orbit later, I opened a pot w/ a $7 raise UTG w/ J[h]T[h], this isn’t a long-term +EV play, but my image was right and the table was soft. Five players called to see the flop, so even after that much folding—I was getting no respect!! Or else, they thought I would be on a certain range of hands and were willing to play with me because they knew where I would be card wise. = ) Most probably though, they look down and say, “OOOO, I have 2 face cards, I gotta call with these!!!” Anyway, the pot is $35 when the flop comes K[s]Q[c]9[s].

I obviously flopped the joint, which is goot, but many players get a false sense of security with a flop of this nature. The flush draws will rarely fold on this board despite what you bet, and bad players often call a pfr w/ suited Aces when they overvalue their implied odds w/ the nut flush hands. KQ hands are also very dangerous here as they won’t be folding top two pair and they have 4 outs twice to fill up on you. A set of 9s is a more dangerous possibility than the last hand since this hand has 7 outs going into the turn and 10 outs going to the river to fill up on you.

I knew that I had to proceed cautiously with my vulnerable nut straight, but in this spot, I decided to wield a big stick. Pushing $40 into the pot, I got everyone to fold except the roadie. I ask him how much he has left and he replies that it is $49. The turn is the sickest card in the deck for my hand, the Q[s], thus pairing the board and completing the spade draw. I check and the roadie pushes his $49 into the pot. My thought process is, “Why can’t he have more chips here to make this an easy fold? Could that turn have been any worse? What other play could the roadie make here with that short stack? Would he stuff the spade flush or the 2nd nut full house? He’s been stuffing it a lot and this isn’t the first time that he has stuffed on me when I showed weakness….” I snatched the $50 off my stack and evaluated where this call would leave me; I’d still be up, but only like $70 if I lost this hand. Reaching down deep, I found a big set of iron balls and decided to make the call based on the fact that this guy just stuffed his stack in too often and given the pot odds offered, I had reasonable odds of snapping off a bluff. “Do you have the flush?” He shook his head dejectedly and tabled K[c]J[s] leaving him live to 9 outs. The river was red and I raked in a nice pot and felt great about finding a real pair when I needed them. Whew!!!

Fishhooks for fun and profit

Marshall Mathers followed his friend on the bus to Bustoville before too long and they were replaced by a couple of friends who seem fresh off the home game turnip truck. They were 40ish and I would imagine that their home game was a pissing contest of primarily small bluffs and overplayed hands. The 2 thru 6 seats were occupied exclusively by decent players. We’re all watching the loud mouth 8 seat who was playing too many hands and mini-bluffing every time the action got to him w/o a bet.

A hand came up in the loud mouth’s big blind where the 3 seat raised behind some limpers, making it $15 to go. I was in the 5 seat w/ Jacks (which I still feel is the biggest trap hand in the game) and elected to call. The 3 seat was a pretty good player, though he didn’t seem to be overly tricky. He and I had been battling all night for the title of the biggest stack on the table. And he had bluffed me off a hand earlier in the night when I had trips and the river put a 4 str8 on the board. Back to the hand in play: Of course, the big mouth 8 seat called from his BB and the 3 of us saw a J-6-2 rainbow flop. Mr. Loud Mouth lead into the $46 pot w/ his standard $10 donk bet and was promptly raised by the 3 seat to $30. I knew that the LM would call behind if I smooth called and I didn’t want to push him out at this point with a raise. He, of course, called behind and we had a $136 pot going into the turn.

The turn brought a K which I thought would either be really good or really bad depending on what over-pair the 3 seat had. The LM checked, the 3 seat bet out $30 again and I made it $75 to go. This unfortunately got the LM out, but the 3 seat called me which kind of had me worried. When the 2nd King fell off on the river, I felt pretty confident that he didn’t have pocket Kings. He checked to me and I pushed Arr-Inn!!!!!! After counting to 3, I knew that I was goot!! He eventually folded his QQ and I was now sitting on $713 worth of chips, the uncontested Big Stack at the table.

Making the tough laydown

A few hands later, I took another decent pot off the LM w/ pocket Jacks on a 10 high flop. The turn paired the 10, which I still bet and got called on, but the river missed his flush draw and I was sitting north of a $550 profit. I lost a small hand w/ AKo and was dealt AQo on the very next hand. I made the exact same $12 raise behind two limpers and got called by both of them. The 3 seat from earlier has moved into the 1 seat, which was great by me as I then had a better look at him when the flop hits. The 3 seat has been filled by a nice looking woman in her 30s. She hasn’t said much but appears to be playing weak-passive. The flop was a seductively nice A-7-4 rainbow and I fired a small ½ pot bet into them after being checked to. The 1 seat smooth-calls my $20 bet and the new 3 seat folds.

Something about the way that the 1 seat called set my spidey-sense off. Something wasn’t right here and I felt like I was walking into a world of hurt. I decided to just check behind on the turn to try to keep the pot small, induce a bluff and/or avoid a big trap. The turn was another 4 and the 1 seat checked into me again and I followed through with my plan of checking behind. He didn’t seem at all pleased w/ this, and when another 7 fell off on the river he stuffed his remaining $85 into the pot. I have to admit that I hemmed and hawed and tried to get some info out of the villain, but he wasn’t giving up much. I stuck w/ my read that something was wrong here and I laid my AQ down face up and said that I knew he had quads. He obliged and showed pocket 7s for a flopped set, turned full house and rivered quads.

After that masterful lay-down, I felt like a genuine Daniel Negreanu (straight off the T.V.) and my chest was blown out for the next 30 mins. I proceeded to lose w/ aces up shortly thereafter to a flopped boat to this same guy, and eventually decided that my cards had turned. I got up and cashed in a $490 profit on the night.

Red Bull and sleep don’t mix

I went to the hotel room for about 45 min and couldn’t sleep, so I came back down stairs and sweated a buddy who was still playing at 2am. He played a very interesting hand which I’ll relate here. I don’t agree w/ his turn bet, but the subsequent call seemed fine to me given the pot odds being offered.

He had 44 in the SB. It was limped to him and he completed. The BB made a donkey raise to $7 and 5 players called to see the flop. The flop was good and bad news for my friend, 5[s]4[s]3[c]. He lead for $40 and got called in 3 spots. The pot = ~$195. The turn was the 7[c]. My buddy lead here for $100 and the BB pushed for $294 total. The 8 seat called all in for $40 and the button called all in for $220. My friend had everyone covered and about $300 more besides. He was in for $650, but this shouldn’t effect the current situation. He was actually even for the night before this hand started.

In any event, it was $194 for him to call a $849 pot and he turned his cards face up to try to get a read on the BB. He eventually called, getting 4.4 to 1 odds w/ his 10 outs. The BB turned over 7[s]3[s] for two pair and a flush draw, the UTG+1 player turned over K[s]J[s] for a flush draw and the button turned over pocket 6s for the made straight. The river was the 2[d]; the button won the main pot and my buddy won the side pot.

At this point, the BB goes raving mad that my friend turned his cards face up and called for the floor. That guy cried at the manager’s desk for 45 min that the 4s should have been folded due to them being turned up, he got no sympathy from anyone. This move was definitely not against the rules, but the question was raised about whether or not it was ethical. IMHO this is a non-issue. Poker is a cut-throat game and just because you walk the line doesn’t mean that you are over it. That idiot shouldn’t have made a pot builder raise from the BB and taken his medicine like a man!

I went back to bed about an hour after this and got about 2 hours sleep before my phone rang. I washed up and went back down stairs to see my same friend sitting at the same table that he had been at since about 1:30pm the previous day. He was about even from where I left him the night before. I bought in for $300 and sat down beside him. I won a small pot w/ 2 pair and then got a phone call to head home due to my wife not having a babysitter for the morning.

I was up $35 for the 45 min session, which brought my total up to $525 for the weekend. My bankroll took a big shot in the arm for a 30% increase and I can’t wait to head back into my favorite card-room to take down some more monies!!! I sure wish BJJIII could have been there, but then again, he would have been the one to flop all those sets and I’d have been sitting on K3o all night…

Landlord79

By Landlord79 on August 6th, 2007

What can I say? It was an awesome trip, I was reading people really well and the Horseshoe - Bossier City was up to its usual high standards, I couldn’t have scripted a better weekend. As I look through my notes I feel that I was clicking on all cylinders. I made one really sick call and one...

By Landlord79 on August 20th, 2007

This trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City was filled with perils and pitfalls for me, both on the table and psychologically. If you keep up w/ my blog, you know that I am on a total heater for the month of August. One of the problems with running hot is that you can become over-confident in your own abilities. Over-confidence leads to bad play, bad play leads to resignation to the variance of the game, resignation leads to acceptance of failure, and acceptance of failure leads to playing not to lose. Playing not to lose isn’t winning poker; it’s a slow bleed of your bankroll that demoralizes you. It’s a downward spiral and is very tough to pull out of.

I continue to run WHITE HOT: Parts I & II

[i]Part I[/i]

In the first hour at the table, I was playing tight and well. I had basically broken even for a little while, when I got dealt Pocket Rockets in MP. There were 2 limpers ahead of me and I made it $12 to go. Both of the blinds called and the two original limpers folded. Pot = $40. The flop hits T[h]T[s]9[s] and the SB pushes AI for $28. The BB thinks a second and smooth-calls the $28 and I make it $100 to go, thinking that if the BB is on a flush draw that he will fold to this bet. The BB mulls over his options again, and eventually calls the additional $72. I put him on a JT or a flush draw and decide that I am probably not ahead at this point. The turn is the most perfect card in the deck, the A[s]. The BB checks again and I give him the speech, “You hit your flush didn’t you?” I check behind to lure his last $70 into the pot on the river. The river is an absolute brick and when the BB checks to me again, I grab a full 20 stack of reds and spike them into the pot. He thinks briefly again and announces that he calls. I don’t even wait for them to reveal their hands, I flip my hand over and tell the dealer to ship it over my way. The SB shows his K[s]5[s] for the nut flush and the BB shows the J[c]T[c] for the flopped trips. How good do I run? This pot gets my confidence swelling and I’m the first big stack to emerge at the table w/ $445 in front of me.

[i]Part II[/i]

The next hand is questionable, but I had a gut feeling and the BB was $300 plus deep after the SB made his own very questionable move. I limp into a multi-way pot from MP w/ the 6[h]5[h] and am joined by a few more late position players. The SB completes and the BB makes it $7 to go. This pot-builder raise doesn’t dissuade anyone and we’ve now got a pot. When the action gets back to the SB, he pushes $30 more into the pot and has $1 behind. The BB calls and it folds around to me. I evaluate the situation as follows: there’s around $40 already in the pot prior to the SB’s move, the BB is almost as deep as I am, I’m being offered >3 to 1 preflop with a very deceptive hand, I am unlikely to get reraised out of this pot from the LP players who have just called twice already, the SB isn’t likely to have a very strong hand since he didn’t raise initially and the BB isn’t likely to be super strong since he didn’t make an isolation raise to get the pot heads up. I elect to call and the LP players all fold. The flop comes Ace high, all hearts and they both check to me. I attempt to bet $1 to put the SB AI, but the dealer informs me that the minimum bet is $2. They both call, so we now have a $2 side pot! Woo hoo!!! The turn is a total brick, the BB checks to me again and I figure that I am through with this charade and push a $50 stack out into the middle, which gets the BB to fold. The river is another heart and the SB shows down A[s]T[c] for TP and I flip my flush over FTW. This stirs the table up a little and I am now on uber card rush tilt!!!

Hubris sets in…

Seizing the momentum, I start playing around 60% of the hands dealt to me because I am INVINCIBLE. This goes on for about an hour. I get called down bluffing after I semi-bluffed the flop and turn by an old man who ends up having my number all day. I mean, I flop TPGK against this guy and I bet the flop and turn, the river pairs the bottom card from the flop and we get his entire short stack into the pot, and he flips over his rivered trips. Sometimes there is just nothing that you can do!

At this point, I am back down to only a $90 profit on the day and I have resigned myself to accepting a small win to a loss. I figured that this rush of cards has got to end eventually and that this could be that time. I tightened up and began to play some weak tight poker, trying not to give away the small profit that I had left.

Even nits make money when they are running goot!

I’m convinced that AJo is a very neutral EV hand in cash games, so I play it accordingly. One particular hand, I limped in from MP3 w/ it, along w/ 6 other players. The flop was J[h]5[s]2[c] and a lady in the SB leads out for $10. Typically, a $10 flop bet is called by everyone, but this lady hadn’t played too many hands and no one seemed to want to tangle up w/ her, so the table folded around to me w/ my TPTK and I just smooth called to await further developments. The turn was a brick, and the lady fired off another $15 into the pot. I smooth called again, trying not to fall into any traps because I was playing like a weak-tight nit. The river finally made me feel that I had the best hand by virtue of my kicker as the J[c] fell off. I had put the lady on a jack the whole way, and I was just hoping that she didn’t have some sick two pair that had just filled up on me. She led for $25 on the river and I reluctantly made it $75 to go, and was prepared to call an AI for her remaining $50. She called the raise and mucked to my top trips w/ top kicker.

Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery…

At this point, I took hold of myself mentally and did a little self-assessment. I realized where my mind was and how I was playing the game—not to lose. I missed $50 of profit on that hand, I was just playing my cards and wasn’t playing my tight aggressive A game. My session ended shortly after this mental recap because my friend and ride back home had gone busto. I racked up my chips, still $200 up, and headed out satisfied that my overconfidence didn’t run me aground, and that I had recognized when my game had spun out of control. Note to self: leave the hubris at home next trip!

Landlord79

By Landlord79 on August 20th, 2007

This trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City was filled with perils and pitfalls for me, both on the table and psychologically. If you keep up w/ my blog, you know that I am on a total heater for the month of August. One of the problems with running hot is that you can become over-confident in your own...

By Landlord79 on October 9th, 2007

It’s been well over a month and a half since I have been to my favorite card room, the Horseshoe-Bossier City . After the hit that my ego took when I went down to Biloxi, MS, I decided to slow down a bit and take some time off from the live felt. I thought that I might be a little rusty with my reading of tells, but I ended up picking up on some things, but wasn’t as sharp on it as I had been the last time that I visited the Shoe.

There were two changes at the Shoe that I noticed. The first was a flat screen added at the back of the room, this flat screen was much bigger than the rest of the flat screens, and a little lower down on the wall. I guess this was so that the seated players near the back of the room would be able to watch TV w/o having to strain their necks while looking way up near the ceiling. It was a nice addition to the room.

The second change was that the room had went from a $1/2 NL structure, to a $1/3 NL structure. The house does this for one primary reason; it allows them to drop the first dollar of rake much quicker than a $1/2 game will. As a poker player, this raise in stakes actually creates a slightly larger game, but it also brings the pre-flop raises back into a normal range relative to the big blind. This may be a temporary phenomenon, but the pre-flop raise size was 4 to 7x the BB on almost every hand versus the 5 to 10x for a $1/2 game. Basically, people are buying in for the same amount or more, and they haven’t adjusted their betting sizes up to match the new structure. The biggest example of this comes in a 7 way limped pot that now holds $21 vs the $14 of a $1/2 structure. The standard flop bet is still $10, which is now half the pot, versus a bet of ¾ of the pot. This creates a situation where drawing hands are more valuable. I actually like the adjustment as it allows a good player to play for slightly higher stakes, while everyone else is still betting like it is a $1/2 game.

The session started off nicely, the 2nd hand dealt to me was pocket 8s, and despite the warnings going off in my head, I just over limped them in the high jack. The flop was K- J- 7r and it checked around to me and I just checked right along w/ everyone else at the table. The turn was an off suit 3 and when it checked around to me again I bet $10 into the $15 pot. The button and SB folded and the BB min-raised me to $20. Everyone in between folded back to me and I just smooth called hoping to see a cheap showdown with him having a 7 or a bluff or I might be able to spike an 8 on the river. Sure enough, the 8 fell on the river and the villain checked to me again, I fired a $25 milking bet into the pot and he made a crying call w/ his lonely pair of Kings from the BB. “Nice slow play buddy!” Mark me as up $50 for my opening hand!

I raised behind some limpers w/ pocket 9s or 10s a few times, only to see four-handed flops of A-K-7. Well, the 7 may be off, but there was definitely an Ace and a King on every flop when I held 9s or 10s and when your 4 handed w/ a MPP on that kind of flop, you never fire a continuation bet, unless you’re some kind of maniac!

I over limped my favorite hand, 6[d]3[d] from the CO, and saw a multi way flop of A[d]4[d]5[c] . Well, 6[c]3[c] is my absolute favorite hand, but a suited 6-3 will do. A lady in the 1 seat fired $15 into the pot and when the action folded to me I made it $45 to go. The button and blinds folded and the 1 seat called the additional $30. The turn was the 10[h] , and after the 1 seat checked to me, I fired a full stack of reds into the pot earning the fold from my opponent. The 2 seat began giving the lady some pointers about how I was playing, but from what I could hear, he had no clue of the depth of my game. I got up from the table to put this hand into my voice recorder because I didn’t want the table to know that I was capable of such a strong semi-bluff.

After folding for an hour or so due to K-3o’s and 8-4s’s and the like, I decided to make a move and loosen up my table image a bit. With the 6[d]4[d] in MP2, I open-raised to $10 and got called by the standard 4 callers. The flop was on my side as it fell A[d]8[d]7[c], giving me a flush draw w/ a gut shot str8 draw. The lady in the 1 seat once again led into the pot, this time for $10. I raised it to $50 from the 5 seat and once again the 1 seat is my only caller. The turn is a total brick, and when she checked to me again, I blasted another $100 stack of red chips into the pot. She folded a little quicker this time and I triumphantly flipped my semi-bluff over and ask for the dealer to reveal the river card for me. It would have filled up my gut-shot which would have been the go card for a monster pot for me. Too bad I bet her out of the hand on the turn, but the result was what I was looking for, I showed down a non-premium hand that I played aggressively and won. Then it was back to folding.

Unfortunately, the table roster turned over 75% within the next hour or so, and I was still very card dead and folding every hand dealt to me. I did win some small hands out of the blinds, but they were relatively inconsequential. The value of my shown bluff was quickly diluted as the players rotated out, and I was back to square one as a rock! Seats 1 & 2 left, and a lady that we’ll call Ms Debbie transferred over to the 2 seat from another table. She was sitting $550 deep, and had a no-nonsense look to her.

With my squeaky tight image, I raised to $15 from the CO w/ K[h] J[h] getting the standard 3 callers to put the pot at $60. The flop came K-4-2r and Ms Debbie led out into me for $30. I felt like this was some kind of information bet and I wanted to test the waters to find out where she was at. I counted out $90 and saw that she was already reaching for some calling chips, I probably should have taken this as a sign of weakness, but I hadn’t played much with her as of yet and I wanted to control the pot a bit and so I just called her $30. The turn was an uncomfortable 10 and we both checked the turn. The river was a 9 and she led out again for $50. I thought maybe that she had paired her kicker and caught up, so I once again just called her down. She saw my hand and admitted that she was out-kicked, and I was just perplexed at how she could be out-kicked by my K-J on that board. When I questioned her, her response was classic, which set the tone for the rest of the hands that I played against her. She said, “I hit two pair a lot!” And she meant it! She claimed that she was on a card rush since 5am that morning and it was 6pm. Boy, was I itching to get involved with her now!

Another hour or so went by with me folding or raising, and my won pots were small ones. Many pots I would just let go after my pre-flop raise; the standard 3 players would call me, and the flop would come all over cards to my MPP. A-Q had become my standard “premium” hand, and I can’t tell you how much I really hate this hand! Anyway, I’m dealt another A[s]Q[s] in late position and bump it to $15 and once again get the standard 3 callers, including the now deep-stacked Ms. Debbie. She had grown her stack to ~$800 when this hand came up. I was ~$550 deep at the start of this hand. The flop was Q[c] 5[h]4[d] and she led into me for $30. Due to the last hand that I played w/ her, I figured that she was out-kicked once again and so I made it $90 to go. Everyone folded around to her and she called, so far so goot! As she calls she questions me, “Do you have pocket Kings over there?” The turn was a very scary card, it brought the J[c] which fit into her 2 pair range and kind of spooked me a bit. I checked behind on the turn to control the size of the pot and to induce her to bet the river with a weaker queen. The river was another bad card, an off suit 10, and once again she led the river into me, this time for $100. I called due to the fact that I had induced a bluff, but unfortunately the river had paired her kicker. “NH, Lady!”

This frustrated me a bit, and I lost another pot w/ QQ against a turned set. Fortunately for me, live players don’t bet in increments of the pot, nor do they raise accordingly. Min-raises are standard and the river bets following a turn min-raise are usually the size of the initial turn bet. “Reload, table 6!!”

With about $290 sitting in front of me and Ms Debbie sitting uber-deep at about $1,600 in the BB, I’m dealt K[h]Q[c] in MP2. UTG and MP1 limp in, I decide to play this one different and not raise to $15 with it, especially since a $15 raise only swells the pot and doesn’t insure a heads up pot. Most of the rest of the table limps in and we see a flop of Q[d]J[d]3[s] . Ms Debbie leads out for $10, MP1 calls $10 and I raise it to $50. The rest of the table folds out to Ms. Debbie, she calls and the MP1 player folds. Pot = ~$130. The turn is an off suit 7 and she checks to me, I feel that I am once again ahead of her range, especially since her range includes many flush draws and Qs with worse kickers. I reach over and push out a stack of reds for a $100 bet and, in return, she digs around in her monster stack to find 2 black $100 chips for a min-raise! With the history that I had w/ her I didn’t hesitate to push out my remaining $140. She instantly called the additional $40 and totally floored me with her hand, I never once put her on this, especially since she had just checked her option in the BB. I mean, I’ve got her pegged as a player who overplays top pair, chases on occasion and generally is flying by the seat of her pants. She then enlightens me with her brilliant knowledge of poker tells, “Sweetie, when someone bets their black chips, that means that they plan on getting them back!” Wow, and you play that bad? Thanks for the insight! Her hand? Pocket Aces that she checked into a multi-way limped pot!

I’ll admit that I grossly over-played my hand, but this is the worst example of playing pocket aces that I have ever seen! Then to feel so confident about her one pair is just plain sickening. I played my hand like I had >2 pair, and she puts all her money in against this betting line w/ confidence. Geez! I wish that I would
have brought more money to the casino! The river was a brick and I’m sent packing with another poker horror story.

Thinking back on this final hand, I’m less sick about my decision than I was when it first happened. I had her pegged as a certain type of over-player, and I got my wish by getting all of my money in against her, but for once she woke up w/ and once again grossly misplayed a very strong hand. Here’s to unfortunate circumstances!

By Landlord79 on October 9th, 2007

It’s been well over a month and a half since I have been to my favorite card room, the Horseshoe-Bossier City . After the hit that my ego took when I went down to Biloxi, MS, I decided to slow down a bit and take some time off from the live felt. I thought that I might be a little rusty with my...

By Landlord79 on October 29th, 2007

King Me!!!!

BJJII and I decided to make a run to the Horseshoe-Bossier City this past Friday night. BJ's friend [i]Ben[/i] was in town and also made the trip with us. Ben is a great guy and an awesome poker resource. Right now he's a student and making his living off of online poker, you could say that he's living the life. I think he's gonna stay with it after he graduates here in the near future, so anytime I get a chance to pick his brain I jump on it. He, BJ and I had some great strategy conversation on the hour and a half drive over there and I think that really put me into the proper frame of mind for a great live session.

Pulling into the Horseshoe's parking garage I felt mentally ready to take on the live donks. I also felt the "ON" switch click over on my luck box. Literally, I felt lucky! We were immediately seated at a $1/3 table since we had called ahead and had Josh put our names on the list.

Nice start

I hadn't even gotten seated before I was dealt the 2nd best starting hand in Holdem. Literally, I was still standing when I looked at my cards. Without pause I tossed 3 red chips into the pot for a 5xBB raise behind one limper. I got called by a guy in an orange and blue long-sleeved polo(we'll call him Fgators) who only had around $175 in front of him. The flop was Q high and very uncoordinated, Fgators checked to me and I bet $25 into the $30 pot. He came over the top of me for a min raise, and after thinking about it for a second and evaluating his remaining stack size, I pushed all my chips into the middle of the pot.

This was my very first hand and I'm all in! He thought about the situation briefly, folded then let it spill that he had Q-9o. That's a great piece of information for future reference. I think to myself, "Welcome to the game, sir!" and settle in for a great session of cards. I immediately straddle on the next hand to build on this loose table image that I've walked into.

Expertly played, sir!

My next play is rather questionable, but it was against Fgators (who I had quickly figured out was a donk) and my hand (kicker) was concealed. I had A-Jo in the BB and 4 people limped into the pot and the SB completed. I check here almost always due to the fact that A-Jo is such a trap hand. I didn't vary from my standard play in this spot.

The flop was J-9-7r, which wasn't the best looking flop for my hand, but I definitely think that testing the waters was fine in this situation. I led out for $10 after the SB checked to me and got 2 callers before Fgators made it $35 to go from the cutoff. This should probably have been a fold for me, but the pot still wasn't too huge and I didn't think that I was breaking into any commitment thresholds w/ my call. I called to await further action by the CO and to see if either of the 2 callers would hang around. Both of the flop callers folded and I'm left heads up with Fgators.

The turn was a 6 and I check-called $20 thinking that I'm probably behind, but for $20 I couldn't fold in this spot. The river was an Ace giving me Aces Up and I looked over at my opponent's stack to gauge what my river bet would be. He only had $25 left in front of him and my dreams of winning a truly massive pot were crushed. I put him AI and he calls w/ his flopped 2 top two pair (Jacks up.)

I sure heard it from my pals when I stacked this pot, but it wasn't the first time that I had sucked out in my life. I was disappointed w/ myself, I had completely ignored the commitment thresholds that were set by my opponent's smaller stack and really felt that I had grossly misplayed my hand. He was in the 4 seat at the time though and seeing his stack was very difficult from the 7 seat that I was sitting in. If it were anyone else but Fgators, I probably would have quickly folded on the flop.

Yep, that's all of 'em

We had been playing for about 3 hours or so and my stack had grown to ~$500. I had the table covered and had 2 total rocks on my immediate left who I gave a lot of respect to due to the fact that one of my buddies who happened to be there had pointed them out to me as regulars. Now when I say they were tight, I mean they squeaked when they put money into the pot. The 1 seat was really loose-passive, the 2 seat was now Fgators, the 3 seat was Fgator's wife who we (my pals and I and the two rocks on my left) had stacked multiple times only to have her reload again and again for $100. The 4 seat was Ben, followed by BJ. I was in the 7 seat, an Asian man was in the 8 seat, a cowboy in the 9 seat and an older cowboy was in the 10 seat.

I had had a really good card distribution for the day, I had stacked Fgator's wife w/ Aces once and consistently had raising hands spread throughout the afternoon. When I looked down to another pair of Kings, I made it $15 to go behind BJ's UTG+1 limp. The cowboy in the 9 seat called, as well as Fgators in the SB.

The flop was so beautiful, K-6-5 rainbow! YAHTZEE!!! Fgators checked to me, since I had the board crippled I figured that I would weak lead for $20 and take down the $50 pot. When the cowboy called behind me I knew that he had to have a good piece of that flop. He was around $250 deep after his $20 call. I wanted to jump up and dance a jig when Fgators came over the top of me for a check-raise. When he made it $70 to go I realized that I was actually going to play a big pot w/ this flopped set of Kings.

Now I started thinking about how to keep the cowboy in the hand and not lose any of the potential business that I had going on at this point. I knew he was tight and would fold easily, so I banged the table with my shuffling chips just as I got check-raised. I paused for some Hollywood effect, and then counted out the $50, which I, with a tinge of disgust, tossed into the pot. The cowboy came along! Yee Haww!!

The turn could have been better; it was the 4[d] that put 2 diamonds on the board. Fgators immediately pushed for $132. I was kind of nervous about the straight draw getting there, but I knew that I could never fold top set in that spot. I repushed to put the cowboy all in and he reluctantly called w/ his flopped set of 5s! I'll give it to him, he knew something was up, I could see it in his eyes, but he couldn't fold a set in that spot. Fgators turns over 6-5o for bottom 2 pair on the flop. They're both drawing stone cold dead on the flop and just for good measure, my favorite dealer Kathy turns over the case King to give me quads on the river!

Enough

Not long after this, the LP player in the 1 seat went broke, as well as the contributing couple that had continually re-bought all afternoon. The remaining players looked around at each other for a second, determined that the loose action was gone, then decided to find greener pastures.

It was kind of slow for a Friday night at the Shoe and the seats weren't being filled (it was only 7pm.) There were nothing but regulars filling the other tables, so my buddies and I talked about heading over to the El Dorado to see if the action was any better over there. Upon further thought, BJ and I decided to go home to our wives and we dropped Ben off at a nice restaurant with some of his friends so that he can do what single guys do. I had netted a $670 profit in 4.5 hours and felt great! This was quite a relief after having lost in the previous 4 live sessions that I had played.

Once home, I realized that I had drank too many Red Bulls and couldn't sleep. With my wife passed out on the couch, I cranked up an online session of $100NL on Bodog. Within an hour and 15 minutes I had picked up $143. It should have been a +3 buy in session, but a guy hit a 3 outer on me on the river after we gotten all the money in on the flop. I'll take a one buy in win in just over an hour though; it's much better than a sharp stick in the eye! Despite a horrible start to the month when I lost $500 at the Shoe, the month has really turned around and I have gotten back into the black for a nice little profit on the month. Hopefully I don't blow it in the next 3 days!

Hopefully I'll keep running goot and keep the winning trip reports coming!

By Landlord79 on October 29th, 2007

King Me!!!! BJJII and I decided to make a run to the Horseshoe-Bossier City this past Friday night. BJ's friend [i]Ben[/i] was in town and also made the trip with us. Ben is a great guy and an awesome poker resource. Right now he's a student and making his living off of online poker, you cou...

By Mr_Taterhead on October 31st, 2007

Landlord79 and I along with my buddy Ben, who is an online pro, made a Friday afternoon trip to play some live $1-$3NL at my home casino, Horseshoe - Bossier City. I now know what it feels like to be Landlord79 when he goes to the Boat with me. I am usually the one running hot, but he can now say that he possesses the luckbox.

Nice hat, sir!

We arrived at the ‘Shoe at about 2:30 and before we go in LL79 asks me if he could wear my lucky TwoRags.com hat that Edmond was so kind to send me and, of course, I obliged. If you’re a luckbox like me, who needs a so-called lucky hat, right? As I start walking to the table after buying my chips from the cashier I notice that LL79 already has a full buyin of $300 in the middle of the table and I haven’t even sat down yet. He gets KK on his first hand and wins about $100 before I can even bust out my iPod. I have never seen a guy look so happy in my life. I think he knew from this moment that this day would be a good one.

I never really got anything going while we were at the ‘Shoe. I was playing a very LAG game preflop and then I went to TAG post flop. I can only recall 3 hands from our very short session and they all happened back to back to back. An older fish, who is probably stuck ~$500 makes it $15 to go and I make it $45 straight with A[d]K[d], everyone folds back to the old fish and he smooth calls. The flop is 925 rainbow and the fish auto pushes $143 into the pot and I have no choice but to fold my hand.

The next hand I pick up KK and open the pot for $20 straight, and of course everyone folds and I take down the nice $4 worth of blinds. WOHOOO!!!

Her first time

The very next hand I pick up QQ. The lady that LL79 mentions in his post makes it $15 to go from EP and I make it $45 straight, everyone folds back to the original raiser and she smooth calls. The flop is a lovely 3-3-5. She insta-pushes $82 into the pot and I am already thinking in my head what I should buy with her money. I can’t call quick enough and of course she turns over AA and says, “This is the first time that I have ever had these!” So in a span of 3 hands I picked up AKs, KK and QQ and I came out as a $169 loser. Boy, this game is fun.

Nice pot, LL79!

While I continue to try to win back my money that the fishies have now managed to spread around the table, I notice that LL79 is running goot and decimating the table. He is crushing the game and he actually gets 2 people all in drawing stone cold dead and wins one of the biggest pots that I have ever seen at a $1-$3NL game. Check out his trip report for details.

We end up leaving the ‘Shoe early so that we can get back home at a reasonable time. I ended up losing $215, mostly due to the AA vs. QQ hand. This is the first time since January (when LL79 and I started going to the casinos together) that I have came home a loser. I am anxiously waiting our return trip so I can get this monkey off my back.

Note to self: Don’t loan out your lucky hat to anyone again.

BJJIII

By Mr_Taterhead on October 31st, 2007

Landlord79 and I along with my buddy Ben, who is an online pro, made a Friday afternoon trip to play some live $1-$3NL at my home casino, Horseshoe - Bossier City. I now know what it feels like to be Landlord79 when he goes to the Boat with me. I am usually the one running hot, but he can now say th...

By GarryM on November 26th, 2007

Wasn't too bad of a couple of sessions. It appears that I'm going to have to make sure that I play the second hand every time I sit down.

Saturday night sat down immediately at a 4-8 Limit Hold'em game and got A-A on the second hand. Flopped a set, rivered a boat. Played up and down the rest of the night for some 5 hours. A luck sack cowboy from LaGrange kept everybody on their toes and lots of loose wallets around the table kept the money flowing. Finished $24 up, not bad for first casino cash game.

Sunday morning again immediate seating at the 4-8 table. A Mimi Tran look alike was at the table, but she proved she wasn't with the loose wallet. The second hand I was in would have won a decent pot as I would have turned a set, but after the flop I didn't think I had a chance and threw my pockets away. My two pair couldn't hang with the set on the splash the cash hand.
Late in that session I found myself with pocket 9's in the BB. Called the preflop raise to 8, As the action went around the table the preflop betting got to the limit of 20. I had a good feeling and stayed in. Preflop pot was about $100 with 4 people in. Flop 9 6 6, I knew why I had the good feeling. Since I was first to act and there was already a lot of action I bet, fold, call and call, 3 players. Turn and river no paint, so I bet both with calls from two players.
They had KK and AA, and I took down about $160. Ended that session up $28 in about 3 hours.

Learned allot and looking forward to hitting more cash games in the casinos.

By GarryM on November 26th, 2007

Wasn't too bad of a couple of sessions. It appears that I'm going to have to make sure that I play the second hand every time I sit down. Saturday night sat down immediately at a 4-8 Limit Hold'em game and got A-A on the second hand. Flopped a set, rivered a boat. Played up and down the rest o...

By Landlord79 on November 26th, 2007

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! This was the worst Thanksgiving that I can remember. We spent the day, cooped up in the house; my wife was sick and I had a two-year old running around that I had to keep up w/. I did make a little online for Turkey day while my son was napping, but nothing significant. I’m not depressed about it being the worst Thanksgiving or anything, but it was the first time that I wasn’t w/ my family and friends on this much beloved holiday.

Friday was much more rewarding! My wife’s stomach bug was gone and we loaded up and drove an hour to her sister’s house. We helped her move for a few hours then I caught a ride w/ my cousin over to my favorite card room, the Horseshoe- Bossier City for some Live $1/3NL action!

OUT OF THE BLOCKS FAST!

Once again, I won the first hand that I played (this is always a good sign in my book.) It wasn’t the first hand dealt to me, but the first hand that I put money into the pot with. I won a small hand w/ K-Qo on a Q high board against a black kid named Bundee (as in Al Bundee.) He had been talking a lot when he had strong hands and he was talking during this hand so I never raised him since I only had TPGK. Turns out he had a worse kicker and I missed a lot of equity in the hand. He was in lots of pots though and I really thought that I’d get another shot at him overvaluing his hand. Things ran well and I quickly picked up a good stack.

Soon enough I tied into Bundee again, this time w/ QQ on the button in a pot where everyone had limped in. The $1/3 game works out well for me since I can make my standard 4x+1 BB per limper raise that I normally make online. It never worked the same for $1/2; the SPR’s were always screwed up and I always felt like I was playing w/ a short-stack. Of course, back then I didn’t know why I felt this way, but now that I understand SPRs it makes plenty of sense. Here’s the cliff notes from PNL, SPR= Stack to Pot Ratio. You buyin for $200 at a $1/2 game and the normal pfr is $12, w/ one caller this leaves an SPR of ~8. At $1/3NL, you buyin for $300 and make the same raise to $12 and you now have an SPR of ~12. You’ll have to read the book for further understanding.

Okay, I’ve got QQ on the button and make it $25 to go with a >$500 stack. There are three callers, one of which is Bundee who is still >100BBs deep. The 9 seat is an old man who doesn’t play all that well and calls way too often. He’ll raise pf w/ AA but not AK or QQ. I’m in the 2 seat so I can’t really see around the dealer to get his stack size and I’m not sure who the other caller was as he quickly folded on the flop of 8-6-6r to Bundee’s $25 donk bet. The 9 seat called the $25 and I made it $100 to go and got called in both spots! OH BOY! (Pot = ~$410) The turn was another 8 and both players checked to me again and I decided that I may want to try some sort of pot control just incase one of them just filled up. For some reason the old man in the 9 seat thought the hand was over and he turned up his pocket 7s. The river spiked a Q for me and when both players checked again, I made it $200 to go and Bundee quickly jumped into this boiling pot w/ his remaining $183. I assume the old man folded to this action because the dealer swept his cards into the muck. I turned over my Qs full and scooped a $775 pot. Within the first 3 hours of being there, I was sitting north of a $650 profit and changed gears to an ultra-tight mode for a while to help protect my win.

There was a TAG regular in the 1 seat on my right, and since I recognized him and he could tell that I knew what I was doing we started talking and having a good time. We talked about our opponent’s tendencies, mistakes and tells, and also discussed the change in the game dynamic that the HSBC’s stake change to $1/3NL from $1/2 NL had brought about. I want to mention a hand because it sets up the next that I want to talk about. “Ace” in the one seat, ended up winning his first pot after having sat there for 2 hours. He had limped from EP w/ A[h] J[h] and I had folded behind him w/ A-10o. He won the pot uncontested when an Ace fell on the flop. I made mention to him after the hand was over that I had folded A-10. And he asked if I had tightened up trying to protect my win. We talked about this briefly and he knew that I wasn’t getting involved w/o a premium hand for a while.

THE COOLER

Within 20 minutes, Ace raises to $13 from EP and I look down at a pair of Snowmen (8-8) and elect to do some set mining since if I miss it will only cost me $13 and I can win a big hand if I hit. There are several callers to help bloat the pot pf and the flop comes J[c] 8[h] 7[s] . Yahtzee! Middle set! Let’s go! Ace leads out for $40, I make it $90 to go and the 3 seat pushes all in for $148 total. It folds around to Ace who just calls, which really surprises me. He knows that I’m rocking it up, why would he call my raise and a reraise behind me? I thought at least 20 seconds about laying down my hand, but who can lay down middle set here? Ace has about another $90 behind him, so I don’t feel that exposed in the hand incase he has top set. If he doesn’t and the 3 seat has the flopped str8, I’ve got a good draw for the board pairing to catch me up with a possible side pot from Ace ta boot. Would Ace call here w/ overpairs? I don’t think that he would, especially after the conversation that we had had about the A-10 hand. Against my better judgment, I called the additional $58. The turn was a brick and Ace pushed his remaining $88 into the pot. @%#$&%$#%^$#%$!!!!! There’s no way I can lay down my hand now getting 6.5 to 1 w/ middle set. I call again and sure enough Ace has the set of Jacks, the board pairs on the river (not an 8 obv) and Ace scoops the near $700 pot.

EXERCISING THE STOP-LOSS

I had set my stop-loss at $700 and this pot brought me down to $625. So I quickly got up, grabbed a rack and made a B-line for the cage to cash in my $325 win before I hit full monkey tilt. The weather was quite frigid for north Louisiana, but I went out in the cold anyway to sit on a bench and call up my good buddy BJJIII for some emotional reinforcement. He quickly reminded me that I had just cashed out a winner while he was busy keeping Harper at home (Mr. Mom! LOL.). I didn’t feel so bad anymore and I don’t even know if I would have tilted, but who needs the added risk from that situation? This was the first time that I had acted on a stop-loss and I felt quite proud of myself for having the fortitude to follow through with it. Yeah for poker discipline!

After a walk around the 2nd floor craps and blackjack tables, I walked the High Roller area on the 3rd floor then headed back down to the cardroom on the 1st floor to see if my cousin wanted to grab something to eat. It was around 5pm and I was starving! Luckily, he hit a set and a str8 while I was cooling off and he had gotten back to even, so he entertained the idea of grabbing some grub. [i](He hates to get up when he’s down.) [/i]

HS-BC BUFFET

The HSBC buffet isn’t near as big as the Beau Rivage's or even it’s counter-part the Horseshoe- Tunica , but the service was awesome and the food was great! Just an FYI, Doyle Brunson considers the buffet at the HS-T to be the best buffet in the world. On Friday nights the HS-BC has a seafood buffet, which is incredible. I’m more of a buffalo wings kind of guy and if you ever want to surprise me, that’s the meal to bring. Being raised in the great state of Louisiana, spicy food is what I crave! I still give it an A for being one of the best buffets that I have partaken of, the Chinese food was exceptionally good!

DIDN'T MISS A BEAT

Immediately upon sitting down, I’m dealt Q[c] -10[s] in the CO and limp in behind several limpers. The flop is K[c] J[h] 3[d] , the SB leads for $10 into the $12 pot, there is a call ahead of me and I call behind. The turn is a 9[h] to give me the nutz and the SB leads for $15 into the $42 pot. The BB makes it $45 to go and I smooth call hoping to keep the SB in the hand. Unfortunately, he folds. The river is a brick (5[c] ) and the BB makes it $40 to go and I raise him up to $100, which he instantly calls (Grrr! I left money on the table!) He doesn’t show and I rake in a $180 profit from my 1st hand back from the break. I love playing poker w/ other people’s money!

TABLE CHANGE PLEASE!?!

Not long after this a guy in his early 30s sits down and immediately raises his 1st 3 out of 4 hands. My cousin recognizes him from previous sessions as a good and aggressive player. I take the hint and scout out a soft seat one table over and make the change. This table seems to be filled w/ people who are laughing and enjoying themselves and my visual clues lead me to believe that most are playing poker because it’s fun and that they don’t need no stinkin’ books to tell them how to play poker! Good thing for me that I was right!

There is one good player at this table in the 1 seat. He’s young and plays a lot of hands, but his pfr is usually small (as in min raises.) He does raise big w/ big hands, but otherwise he’s just min-raising pf fairly often. He picks up a lot of orphan pots and no one is standing up to him. He’s about $700 deep when I sit down w/ $600.

Mostly, I’m raising pf and taking down w/ Cbets, which is quite rare at live games, but things continue to run very well for me. I limp-rr pocket Kings UTG+1 for a decent win AI pf vs. A[h] K[s] . That guy reloaded for $100 at least 4x at our table, I should have chased him around the room when he took a table transfer. I actually got into a super +EV situation vs. the 1 seat when I had AA vs. his QQ. The board was 6[h] 7[s] 8[h] J[h] and we checked the turn and river. That was a huge missed opportunity, though I did win about $100 in the hand. I bet some combo draws and made some loose moves to keep my image loose. I showed down my favorite hand 6[c] 3[c] after taking the pot w/ a Cbet. I got a lot of funny looks for raising it UTG. =)

REDNECK POKER

The faces changed out a bit and I’m up another $600 for this second session of the night. A redneck sits down to my immediate left; he’s in the 8 seat. His type is the kind that is aggressive all of the time and is too proud to learn how to play well. He’s not betting very big except for on a few occasions and he is chasing and hitting draws to win some very big pots. He’s dodging well when others are strong, but his small-string of wins are just a mirage and a lucky run. He bullies most of the table around, hits 2 OESD’s to swell his head and his stack. I start chatting it up w/ him and find that he is exactly how I thought he would be. He pushes me off a TPWK hand once, then I countered him a round later w/ a total bluff. He was buying my black chips off of me because he thought they were cool. He let himself get a little short stacked in the red chips department and I used that against him. In a BVB situation, I open-limped the SB and he raised me. I called and we saw a ragged flop. I could tell that he didn’t hit any of it, and I floated his Cbet OOP. I led the turn brick for $20, he had 3 red chips in front of him and he commented on not wanting to break his black chip down. I obliged him and pulled back one red chip so that he wouldn’t have to break his black chip on this street knowing that I’d fire the river and force him to break it or fold. Sure enough, the river bricked and I led for $25, he squeezed that black chip then threw his cards face up into the muck. A-10o, which completely had my A-4o crushed. I looked at him and said, “You know the difference between me and you? I can play well after the flop.” He laughed and we resumed our normal banter.

One round later I’m on the button and open raise to $12 w/ Aces and the redneck, of course, defends his SB, the BB folds. He’s ~$250 deep at this point. The flop is 6[d] 4[c] 3[d] and I Cbet for $25 and he calls. The turn is the 7[d] completing the FD and the many SD’s that were out. He checks again, I push $60 into the pot and he check-raises me all in! I checked my Aces and the Ace[d] is indeed in my hand. I think about it a second and decide that I can’t fold this hand to his guy. I’ve got outs if he has me beat at this point, but I really don’t think that he’s got me beat here. It’s around $150 for me to call and I bite the bullet and do it. He turns over J[h] 6[c] for a pair of 6s. He should have left w/ his 2 black chips a long time ago.

YOU PLAY ON THE INTERNETS?

I’m now >$1k deep and feel like a juggernaut! The redneck is replace by a young guy who hits 2 pair on his first 3 hands to run his $200 up into a sizable stack. I ask him if he plays on the internet and he comments that he doesn’t since everyone just pushes all in all of the time. I probe a little further and he admits that he has only played fun money online! Yippee for me, I love live poka!!

I did get to bet a black chip in this session and get paid off w/ the nutz! The new kid above limps from MP right behind me. I have the 10[s] 9[s] and am deep enough to play any hand I want to and not have to worry about losing much. I’ve got ironclad reads on the whole table and feel in control of this tiny universe. The flop is Q[h] 8[c] 7[s] and I led out for $15 when it checks to me. The new kid calls along w/ a guy in the 4 seat who called preflop almost every hand; he’d then call the flop then fold to the turn bet w/o fail. (I love live poka!) The turn brings my money card, the J[h] , the 4 seat checks and I bet $40, which the new kid calls and you guessed it, the 4 seat folds. The river is a brick and I look at my loose $5 chips, not enough there to make the bet I want to make, I have 3 stacks of 40 deep reds, but they’re stacked up w/ the paint lined up w/ one another and I’d hate to break ‘em down, so I toss a black chip into the pot which gets called. Woo Hoo! Nutz buddy! He comments that he didn’t think people bet their draws all that often. “Well, I’m not your avg bear!” He showed J[s] 7[c] and said that the turn card was the perfect card for him to lose a lot of chips. I don't know why he called w/ a lonely pair of 7s there.

BRAGGAGE

The Stack is >$1,400 deep at this point, which, if you want a mental picture is 4 stacks of 40 tall reds w/ 6 black chips on the top. Holla!! It’s big enough that people are stopping to ask me what I’m going to do w/ all that money. Christmas, man! Christmas!

The game breaks soon as I’ve got all the money wrapped up into neatly aligned stacks w/ 2 black chips straddling 2 red stacks each 3x. I’m only playing w/ the loose red and white chips that I can never seem to get rid of, and no one there was aggressive enough to start bullying me beyond this tiny stack of loose chips. Did I mention that I love live poka! I cashed out my $1,205 win instead of transferring to a new table. I sat around another hour or so waiting for my cousin to get back to even (which he never did.) We left the casino w/ me dragging him out at 4:30 in the a.m. I rolled into the house at 6:15. $1,530 settles a lot of anger about why I was out so late. Thank goodness for the big wins!

By Landlord79 on November 26th, 2007

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! This was the worst Thanksgiving that I can remember. We spent the day, cooped up in the house; my wife was sick and I had a two-year old running around that I had to keep up w/. I did make a little online for Turkey day while my son was napping, but nothi...

By Landlord79 on December 27th, 2007

Dec 22nd Trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City

I took a day off from work Friday to extend my holiday weekend and to give me some time to play cards and finish up my Christmas shopping. Well, finish up really isn’t the correct word there; I had to do my Christmas shopping. After doing my shopping and errands, BJJIII and I hit the road around 11:30 headed to our favorite card room, the Horseshoe-Bossier City! The Shoe was busy and almost full, but they quickly had us seated at the same table. Within an hour we’re splitting a huge club sandwich, compliments of the $1/hr comp rate that we’ve accumulated that the Shoe offers its poker players.

Sputtering Start…

I’ve been on a bit of a downswing lately, so I really didn’t expect to come out smoking like I did on my last trip. In fact, I started the day off by flopping on my face multiple times. I check-raised a flush draw vs. some lady who was running uber hot. She, of course, called, then proceeded to win the hand as my draw didn’t get there. I guess that I thought that she might be capable of a fold. What was I thinking? I had top pair turn into trips on the turn, which got scorched by some-young guys full house. This is not the way that I like to start sessions!

Table Change Please!!

At BJJIII and my table were a couple of decent players, a grouchy old rock and an old lady who couldn’t fold due to the fact that everything was going her way. She was $1,200+ deep at a $1/3 game and had obvious flaws in her strategy that we were looking to exploit. When she announced that it was time for her to head home, we begged her to stay since her leaving would cripple the table and probably leave it on a course to be broken up. We kept her around for 30 minutes despite her saying that each hand was her last hand, but I think she came out to the positive in this time period, so it might have been better if we would have just let her leave. A call to her husband 1 hour away sealed the deal and she stacked up 2 racks of red birds and headed out the door.

BJJII got hit in the face w/ the deck when his 10-7o flopped the nut str8 and he doubled through an old man w/ the idiot end of it. He had a day that we all dream of card wise. A really good reg sat down in the 2 seat to BJ’s left and the game seemed to get much tougher. I was down about a buyin at this point and felt it was time to make a move to a softer seat. When I talked to Joe (the night floor manager) he pointed me to the back of the room where the table seemed loose and jolly! Ahhhh! That’s more like it, limp, limp, call my raise, fold to my Cbet. That’s right!

A snake in the weeds

When I sat down in the 8 seat, I noticed a tough spot in the line up that I hadn’t noticed on my first glance through. Two seats to my right sat a man who goes by the nickname of Ace. Well, he used to, but he goes by a different name now since ever dealer in the room used to announce his presence when he walked through. He’ll always be Ace to me and he is a pleasure to talk to for the long hours of a live poker session. He’s the man who set over set me in my last session at the HSBC, which is linked at the top of the page.

Don’t call it a comeback!

Soon enough I started making my money back. I’ve gotten really good at recognizing orphan pots and I’m able to pick them up like they were quarters on the sidewalk. My top pair hands were good for a few wins then I got dealt the mother of all starting hands, Pocket Aces!

Dealt to Hero: A[h] A[c]
3 folds
Hero ($400+) raises to $12
CO folds
Button calls $12
SB ($222) calls $11
BB folds

Flop - J[s] 6[s] 4[c]
Pot - $39
SB cks, Hero bets $30, Button folds, SB calls $30

Turn - 6[c]
Pot - $99
SB cks, Hero bets $100, SB calls

River - 10[h]
Pot - $299
SB cks, Hero bets $80, SB calls $80 and is All In

Villain shows Q-Jo for One Pair- Jacks
Hero shows A-A for One Pair- Aces

The SB was an older man and had seemed very straight-forward since I had been watching him. He said that he played online at UB. He seemed uncomfortable throughout the hand and mostly squirmed in his chair. I thought that he was on a draw and was floored when he called the $100 turn bet. He looked very resigned when I put him in on the river, in fact, he held his chips out after he checked in a manner that hinted at surrender. As if he had no choice but to put them in. [i]Thanks for the crying call.[/i] He reloaded instantly for a full buy-in and a short while later I’d tie into him again.

I had moved to the 3 seat across the table to get a better view of the whole table. (I always try to stay in the 2,3,7 or 8 seats because they offer the best view of my opponents.)

Playing small flushes

I played 5[h] 4[h] and made a small flush, only to lose to the 6[h] 3[h] for a bigger flush. This didn’t really bother me that bad since it wasn’t that big of a pot. The table was loose passive and I felt that I had solid reads on everyone. I don’t limp much at all out of position in these games, but for some reason I caught a wild hair and decided to play a very unorthodox hand.

Dealt to Hero – 6[s] 4[s]

Hero ($500) calls $3
1 fold
MP1 calls $3
MP2 ($300) (SB from hand above) calls $3
3 folds
SB calls $2
BB checks

Flop – A[s] 9[s] 8[h]
Pot - $18
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $15, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $15, SB folds, BB folds

Turn – K[c]
Pot - $48
Hero bets $25, MP2 calls $25

River – Q[s]
Pot - $98
Hero checks, MP2 bets $75, Hero….

This put me into a tight-spot. The old man played his hand like he had a draw and any FD almost had to be bigger than mine. I planned to check-call the river to snap off a bluff, but this was a rather large bet for a straight-forward player when a FD gets there on the river. That 5[h] 4[h] hand kept running through my mind and I kept asking myself if flush over flush could happen again in such a short period of time. I studied the old man and found that he was quite rigid and was pushed back into his chair. Not in a super confident “I have you kind of way,” but in a “I hope that snake doesn’t bite me” kind of way. I counted his breathing to see if he was excited or scared, but I didn’t get much from that. Finally, based on the fact that I did have a flush and that the villain was quite rigid, I dumped $75 into the pot prepared to be behind. He tapped the table and said “Good call.” I showed him my flush and he mucked his hand. Later, he admitted that he had TP.

BJJIII had gotten up from his table to come over for a visit and watched the hand progress. He said that he would have snap called the river, I don’t think the hand was that simple. My estimate of the villain being a straight-forward player, coupled w/ how he played the hand made it a much harder call, IMO. Also, losing to a flush over flush just before this didn’t make things any easier.

One More Round

An hour or two later, I’m still hovering at about even (+/-$30) when BJJIII comes over to tell me that he’s ready to go and that we’ll play one more round. Some new guy had joined my table, he looked a little buzzed and wore his feelings on his sleeve. I think he was the type that liked to play blackjack and thought that he’d give poker a try. Earlier, I stated that I’ve gotten good at picking up orphaned pots. This isn’t really anything that I can put my finger on most of the time, it’s kind of a gut feeling based on the flop texture and the reactions of the other players. It also helps when you’re checked to in position. Two such hands came up as we were preparing to leave. One I took down uncontested and the other I got called by the man mentioned above. He seemed so uncomfortable and couldn’t remember his cards for anything. I guess that he may have been trying to reassure himself that his middle pair was good. Based on this read, I fired 3 streets into the guy w/ bottom pair before I convinced him to fold w/ my river bet. The very next hand I picked up K[s] Q[s] and raised it preflop and, of course, the new guy calls. I flopped a king and bet the flop and turn before he finally gave up again. Next thing that I knew, BJJIII handed me 2 empty racks and I headed for the cage. I cashed out a $120 winner that I scraped together on my “One Last Round.”

I love live poker!!!

By Landlord79 on December 27th, 2007

Dec 22nd Trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City I took a day off from work Friday to extend my holiday weekend and to give me some time to play cards and finish up my Christmas shopping. Well, finish up really isn’t the correct word there; I had to do my Christmas shopping. After doing my shoppi...

By Landlord79 on January 25th, 2008

Cliff Notes on my 29th Birthday Trip to the HS-BC

In celebration of my 29th birthday, Mr_Taterhead (the poker player formerly known as BJJIII) and I decided to make a long trip over to our favorite cardroom, the Horseshoe-Bossier City. Last year at this time we went up to Tunica, MS during the WPO and the WSOP-Circuit Events. This year we decided to forego the 5hr long drive in exchange for an hour and a half one and we got free rooms ta boot at the HS-BC!

My holiday started on Wednesday since the Tunica trip was slated for the 16th through the 19th. Because the drive was going to be less, we shortened our trip down to the 17th through the 19th. We planned on leaving on the night of the 16th, but Harper (Mr_Taterhead’s kid) got sick and Mr_T had to stay back. I decided to stay an extra night home w/ my hot wife and drive over in the morning. I hoped to grind online most of the day Wednesday, but ended up down in the south side collecting some late rent monies, and only getting 3 hours in at Pokerstars. I think that I netted $10 or so after 2,800 hands of 25NL and had at one point been up >$100. We’ll call Wednesday a wasted day, as I got nothing accomplished that I had hoped to.

A Great Start

Thursday morning ran according to plan and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my get-away. I was able to do some quality reading and have some quiet time before I took a shot at 50NL. My shot was a successful one as I won $135 and cleared my first ever $50 FPP bonus within an hour’s time. I’m now fully rolled for 50NL and am looking forward to the increased stakes. After a quick shower, I headed out of town at 11am.

There were a few stops on my way out, so I didn’t arrive at the HS-BC until ~ 1:30pm. Check-in wasn’t until 4pm, so I just went straight to the tables. [i]Josh, the daytime floor manager[/i] , greeted me when I walked in. He’s a super nice guy and keeps things running smoothly. I hit him up for a club sandwich and, of course, I’ve got meal comps running out of my ears from frequenting this place twice a month for the last year. If you ever visit the HS-BC and start accumulating the $1/hr food comp, don’t freak out when you put your card into the reader machine and it tells you that you don’t have any points or dollars built up. The $1/hr comp rate of the poker room is completely different than that of the rest of the casino. The reader told me that I had $1 in comps, but Josh explained the difference to me and informed me that I had $120+ of comps built up! (Friday night seafood buffet here I come!)

Learning from others

I was pretty card dead for the afternoon but was able to break even by playing [i]positionally aggressive poker[/i] . I think my stack grew to a $100 profit at some points, but it also got low enough that I had to top it off once after a tough series of hands. The player on my immediate left [(the 9 seat) we’ll call him Michael] and I had lots to talk about as his primary income was from live poker. We played together at several tables and I really learned a lot from him. We immediately hit it off and were soon sharing ideas and reads that we had picked up on the other players at the table. His style of reading players was quite different from mine, but his stack and results proved to me that he knew what he was doing. I won’t elaborate on how he reads players because I don’t want to expose any of the information that he uses and that he shared with me, but I must say that picking his brain made it well worth the trip.

The table was to my liking at first, but changed dramatically late in the night when one very bad and very lucky maniac sat down in Michael's seat to my left. One maniac by himself isn’t that tough to deal with, but when that maniac is on your immediate left and is hitting every hand that he plays, he changes the entire dynamic of the table. Normal players start to play back at him in some questionable spots and they start playing more like him. They chase too many weak draws and call preflop with some very speculative hands hoping to have the same lucky results that the maniac is having. This leads to maniac tables where the game is more like craps than it is a game of skill. I was even to slightly down when the maniac sat to my left. I should have taken the hint to get up when he sucked out on me early, showing me the Q[c] 9[c] from the SB that he had called my LP pfr with. I doubled through him w/ the nut flush a little later and had my head out of the water very briefly. I knew that I didn’t have as consistent of results at these maniac tables, but I just never got up for some better playing grounds.

The most memorable hand that I played Thursday night was when I limped in on the button w/ 6[d] 5[d] . Several players had limped in as well and we saw a low, two diamond flop. The table checked around to me and I fired $20 into the $21 pot and got 2 calls. The turn completed my flush and once again the table checked to me. I fired out $50 this time and only got called by the 10 seat. He was a very large black man who looked like he knew what he was doing, though he had the demeanor of a live game rock. The river put a fourth diamond on the board and the 10 seat stacked up his chips and pushed all in for $80. I dumped my 6 high flush and felt like puking on the carpet. The guy wasn’t even nice enough to tell me if he had it on the turn. I can’t imagine him calling the flop w/ a lone big diamond, so I assume that he had me beaten on the turn. I got up a little after this hand was played, eating a loss of $270 for ~11 hours of play.

Our Accommodations

I did take a <1 hr break during this session to check into our room and rest my mind for a few minutes. The check-in process was super easy and I had my stuff out of the car and into the room in no time. The rooms at the HS-BC are top of the line. Our room had 2 queen beds, a desk, a couch, a 32’ TV, fully marbled floors in the bathroom and a huge Roman bath. The Roman baths were the clincher for me; these things were enormous! They also provide complimentary bath salts to heighten the experience. I know that I ran the water for 15 minutes and still never got the whole thing filled up. And even with the tub not being completely full, I was still easily able to sit fully immersed in warm relaxing luxuriance.

Friday Lunch: My First Visit to a Buffalo Wild Wings

I’m not much of a daytime sleeper, so after 5 hours of in and out sleep and a long bath, I was up and ready to go by 11am. My buddy and I went to the Buffalo Wild Wings located on the Boardwalk. The atmosphere was incredible and is definitely a great spot to watch the big game. Our server, Kristen (I believe,) was jam up and really took the time to walk us through the menu. She was very knowledgeable of the different sauces that they had to offer and she made some great recommendations for us. My only complaint about the place was that their wings were a little on the small side, but that won’t prevent me from giving them a positive review. Good service and a great atmosphere go a long way to completing the experience in my book.

I took a catnap after our lunch outing and walked into the poker room ~1pm. This was a rather quiet session and I really can’t think of any hands that were worth mentioning here, but I netted a small $60 profit on the 3 hr session. I returned to the comfort of our hotel room and tried to relax before my long Friday night marathon. Mr_Taterhead arrived around 4:30pm and after a quick conversation he was out the door to play some cards. Within 15 minutes he called me to tell me that they were starting a new table and that I should come down and join it. I love starting new tables since the game usually isn’t full of maniacs or players on tilt yet. I like starting w/ mostly equal stacks and I feel that I can pick up reads on players more quickly than other players can. So, I put my hoodie on and headed back down to the cardroom.

This table was very much to my liking. It had semi decent players with no calling stations or maniacs. What I like about tables of this texture is that you can raise preflop in position and if you don’t take down the blinds and limps immediately, you can continuation bet with a high percentage of success to win a slightly larger pot. When they call your raise preflop then fold on the flop, you can add to your stack w/o much risk. Most of the time, you win enough of these to net out a profit, so you shouldn’t feel discouraged if you get called on the flop a few times in a row. It will net out in the end.

The only real memorable hand from this session was one in which I raised from the SB into several limpers with A[c] Q[h] . I make a larger than normal raise in this spot to discourage callers and set miners. I got called in one spot and then checked the Ace high, very-uncoordinated flop to encourage action from weaker Aces. The villain checked behind and I led the turn and river for a nice medium sized pot. The villain was very surprised to see my big ace, and mucked his hand w/o showing. Later he admitted that he had A[s] 6[s] w/ a flush draw that he had picked up on the turn. Note: You should never call a big pfr w/ a dominated hand such as this. A-x suited is so over-rated, good players just aren't going to pay you off when you make your flush and if they can't beat a pair of aces then you're wasting money there too. This is a great example of why not to play A-Xs. He ran into a bigger Ace, stayed in due to his draw that he picked up on the turn and paid off 2 streets of value post flop.

Friday Night Seafood Buffet

I played another 3 to 4 hours in this session and booked a small win of ~$120. Unfortunately, I got hungry and the HSBC buffet was calling to me. After some coercion, I finally talked Mr_T and another friend into going upstairs to try to break the buffet. Kim and Joe quickly hooked us up w/ some buffet comps and we were on our way!

On Friday nights, the buffet at the HSBC is a seafood buffet that runs for $21.95 or so. Due to us being well-respected degenerate gamblers, we got to eat for free based on our comps that we had accumulated in the pokerroom. The buffet spread is quite large and the assortment of foods included home-style, Chinese, soup and salad, seafood, dessert, and even some Cajun cuisine. The stuffed halibut was my personal favorite, followed closely by the crawfish etouffee. I ate until I almost popped, but fortunately for me, we had a room upstairs that I could relax in until the drowsiness of a big meal wore off.

Out of the Hole!

Around 10 or 11 I decided to come down out of my nest and play some more cards. There was another new table starting up and I jumped right in. This new table seemed tougher than normal though. There were only 2 old guys to start the action and 5 young guys who seemed ready to gamble. When 3 of the 5 young guys turned out to be friends, I considered making a table change. I hung in there a few minutes and realized that not only were they trying to bash each other’s heads in but they were drinking heavily and really sucked at No Limit Texas Holdem. My new friend Michael from the previous afternoon’s session joined the table on my immediate left. This is where we actually discussed our strategies for reading opponents. The action was really hot and the 3 friends were quickly going broke. Luckily, they were there to gambool and kept reaching into their pockets for more Benjamins. I think they even ended up making a few trips to the ATM. I took a preflop race w/ one of them w/ my A[s] Q[d] vs. his J[h] J[s] . I had raised from LP and he stuffed his short stack in from the SB. I had figured out that his range was pretty wide at this point (Jacks were actually in the top of his range) and felt very comfortable that I wasn’t going to be in a dominated situation w/ my A[s] Q[d] . I caught an ace in the door to take down the $120 pot. Within 2 hours they had all three made it to bustoville, I’m not sure if it was the rusty nails they were drinking or simply them not understanding that K-Qo in a 4-bet pf pot is a losing hand.

Substitutions

With the 3 friends gone and all of their money left on the table, the line up made some dramatic changes. Only one of the old men remained and he was joined by an even older man in the 10 seat who Michael immediately pegged as someone who would call you down w/ 2nd pair. Mr_T was in the 1 seat and was taking a beating from the deck. The 2,3 & 4 seats were filled by a bad player, an excellent player and a player who thought he was excellent but actually played very straight-forwardly and bordered on just plain weak-tight. The 6 & 7 seats to my right had some weak players come and go and I was in the 8 seat w/ Michael on my left.

With one limper to me in the cut-off, I made it $15 to go w/ A[h] J[h] and got called by the old man in the 10 seat. The flop was Q[h] 10[c] 4[h] giving me a gut shot and the nut flush draw. The 10 seat was pretty tough to read but he definitely didn’t appear strong when the flop hit. I bet $20 when he checked to me and was really surprised when he called. The turn was a total brick and when I fired out $50 the old man got stubborn and called again. The river was a blessed Jack, and I somehow felt some relief that I had just caught up in the hand, though I hadn’t made near the hand that I had hoped. Once again the old man checked to me, but w/ 2nd pair and having fired on 2 streets already, I couldn’t fathom what he would call me with on the river that I beat. I checked behind and announced that I had a Jack not quite knowing what I expected him to turn over. He showed 10[s] 2[d] for a flopped 2nd pair. He seemed kind of upset as if I had sucked out on him, but if you figure the outs on the hand, I had 9 flush cards, 3 straight cards, 3 aces and 3 jacks to track him down. With the 4x rule on the flop, I’ve got 72% less 10 (for outs over 8) for [i]an equity of 62% in the hand w/ 2 cards to come[/i] . On the turn I’ve still got 39% (18/46) equity in the hand. I don’t think this was much of a suck out. I’m ahead on the flop w/ 2 cards to come and only a slight dog on the turn w/ 1 card to come. I’ll take this scenario every day of the week including Sunday! I played this table until 2:30am before deciding to turn in. I cashed out a $285 winner for the night and was now back into the positive. Mr_T hung around for a while longer to try to get even; I think he came in around 4:30 w/ some more bad beat stories.

Saturday Morning

My phone rang around 8:30am but I struggled to stay asleep until 10ish. Mr_T beat me to the shower and was out of the room and headed to the cardroom before my shower water was even hot. I meandered to the cardroom around 11 and was once again pleased to be seated at a newly opening table. This table had the best line up of all for the entire weekend and it turned out to be my most profitable. There was one good player, one semi-maniac, a nut-peddling, weak-tight regular and a bunch of exploitable middle-aged men who called pf and folded to cbets. [i]Now that’s my kind of table![/i]

The cards ran very good for me in this session. I picked off a $30 straddle-bluff w/ one caller w/ a measly pair of 3s on the flop. My big hands held up, I flopped a flush w/ J[s] 10[s] and I had the one maniac’s number. The biggest hand that I won was all in preflop for ~$200. I was in the big blind and the table limped around to me and I put $25 on top w/ the A[c] K[d] just hoping to take down the limps. It folded around to the maniac who asked me if I had a big hand, I responded, [i]“I have a big enough hand that I can raise $25 out of the blinds.”[/i] He thought for a second then announced that he was all in. The 3 limpers between us obviously folded. I got him to count down his stack and he had ~$180 that I would have to call. I looked at my stack and had about that much in profits. I wedged my hand into my stack to separate the profit portion out and said, “Let’s gamble!” This isn’t a raw gambling shot in the dark. What does he have here that he would limp behind with but he would push all in over my BB raise with? It boils down to the fact that he is making a play on me w/ a medium pocket pair. He would have raised any big ace or any pocket pair as big as or bigger than 10s preflop. I figured out that I would be in a coin flip or better and decided to gamboool! He turned over pocket 8s and we were flipping. The flop contained a Q and a 10 giving me 4 additional outs. The turn was a dud, but the river was a Jack to give me the Broadway straight! The maniac reloaded and I stacked the pot. I played another hour or two and due to my level of exhaustion from not having slept more than 5 hrs per night for 2 consecutive nights, I decided to cash in my $400 win (4hr session.)

Overall, for the trip I netted $581 in poker winnings , less a meal and some gas. Both nights at the hotel were comped and my friends and I had a wonderful time. I’ve been to Tunica and I’ve been to Biloxi and I must say that the Horseshoe-Bossier City ranks right up there with the top poker rooms in the south. You can usually get sat down at the game of your choice in a matter of minutes, the food comps are great, the dealers are first class and the tables, set-up and chairs are second to none. The next time that you’re passing through the Bossier City, Shreveport area, make sure to swing into the HSBC. When you walk into the casino, take the escalator downstairs and head to the left of the gambling area. The cardroom is 75% glassed off and has a flat-screen in view for anywhere you may want to sit. Good luck and I hope to see you on the felt soon.

By Landlord79 on January 25th, 2008

Cliff Notes on my 29th Birthday Trip to the HS-BC In celebration of my 29th birthday, Mr_Taterhead (the poker player formerly known as BJJIII) and I decided to make a long trip over to our favorite cardroom, the Horseshoe-Bossier City. Last year at this time we went up to Tunica, MS during...

By Mr_Taterhead on March 13th, 2008

Meh day @ the Shoe.

Last Saturday fellow tworagger Landlord79 and I headed over to our home casino to play some live poker. Our regular live game for now is $1-$3NL. We headed out around 9am and arrived at Horseshoe-Bossier City poker room and we were immediately sat at different NL tables. I joined my table which consisted of a mixture of weak tight old men and calling stations. The first hand at my table three people limped and I sweated AKo and I bumped it to $25 straight and an old man to my left cold called and every one else folded. I CBET $40 on a K high flop and took it down. You can’t win them all unless you win the first one right? So I am up about $50 when the following hand comes up. The old man on my direct right who was pretty much fit or fold bumped it to $23 with a couple of limpers and I squeezed AK[d] this time and I 3bet to $60 straight and when it got back to him he announced raise and I quickly mucked my hand face-up before the guy could even get an amount out of his mouth. I got some weird looks from a lot of the players who thought that AKs is the nutz. The old man showed AA. One more for the good guys!!!

I am about even when I sweat AKo once again from LP and I punished the 3 limpers and make it $25 straight. The guy on my left, who had me covered, kept playing every time I would raise and I knew this was going to be a problem unless I made hands vs him. We miss flops to right? Ok, so the guy cold calls me preflop once again. I make a CBET to $40 on the K[d]-4[c]-Q[d]flop, but this time he calls. The turn was 9[s] and that made a straight possible for people can’t fold JT preflop. I cant give this guy a free card if he is drawing, so I cut out 12 redbirds and was going to see what he was going to do. He called my turn bet pretty quick and now I am getting pretty committed by SPR standards. The river was an offsuit ace and I made a $100 bet and got looked up by A8[d]. I can’t believe that guy looked me, but I will take it. I rake in a nice pot and as I am putting the details into my voice recorder I get a few questions about why I am recording my hands. I reveal that I am taking notes on hands that I play during live poker sessions, so that I can do trip reports for a website I represent, tworags.com obviously. I even passed out a couple of business cards. Edmond don’t worry, I am pimping the site, even though it keeps me from getting action. From then on I was referred to newcomers to the table as a pro, but I kept telling them that I just play poker as a hobby.

I chip up to up about $300 and follow limpers from MP with 88. The flop is 4-A-A rainbow and the 4 players check it around. The 3[s]hits the turn and I make a bad play when a old man leads and I try and take it from him with a nice stiff raise, but when he announced a reraise I was toast and quickly mucked my hand. I was so mad at myself for this spewtarded play. I just dumped close to $80 on a bluff. Everyone knows you don’t bluff live donks. I shrug it off and get back to my A game.

Landlord has made it over to my table and he is unsuccessfully trying to recover some of his losses and we are shooting the bull. Live poker is so much more fun when you can sweat flops and turns with your buddies isn’t it? A few hands after the 88 debacle a couple of loose guys limp from MP position and I look down at AQo in the SB and I make it $26 total and the first limper calls and the second preflop limper shoves the rest of his stack $94 into the pot and when it gets back to me I reraise to $200 to isolate the All-In player. The original limper folds and I can’t a win coin flip vs 99. That hand pretty much made my day. It wasn’t too much longer that Landlord and I had enough for one day and we decided to call it a night.

Even though I only cashed out a small win ($70), I enjoyed my time at one of my favorite poker rooms in the South. My wife and I are making another trip over to the Shoe on Good Friday, but I don’t know how much poker I will be able to get in, with all the shopping she will want to do. I am not sure when Landlord and I will make another trip, but I can’t wait.

By Mr_Taterhead on March 13th, 2008

Meh day @ the Shoe. Last Saturday fellow tworagger Landlord79 and I headed over to our home casino to play some live poker. Our regular live game for now is $1-$3NL. We headed out around 9am and arrived at Horseshoe-Bossier City poker room and we were immediately sat at different NL tables. I j...

By Mr_Taterhead on March 25th, 2008

I was very fortunate to have Good Friday off from my job, so you can guess how I spent my day off. That’s right. I made a trip to the 'Shoe.

I arrived at the 'Shoe around noon and when I walked into the room I was shocked to see that the room was rocking. I went directly to the brush and checked in with them. I then went and scouted the tables and I found out why the room was banging so early in the afternoon. They had a $75+$40+$40 unlimited rebuys for the first 90 minutes tourney going on. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to participate, because there was some fishy play from what I witnessed. They tourney had about 60 runners and first place was $4K. I am already making plans to make that tourney on July 4th. That is the next Friday that I will be off from work.

My wife was coming over to Bossier to meet up with me after she got off work so we could enjoy a night together alone. I knew I didn’t have long to play and when it took me 30 minutes to get seated in a $1-$3NL game I was kind of bummed, but I passed the time donking around in the 4-8 Limit game. I vowed the last time I dumped $300 playing limit poker without winning a hand that I would never play limit again. I played about 2 orbits and lost $8. The only playable hand I had was KK in the SB when it folded to me and I chopped the blinds with the guy next to me.

I was finally seated in my NL game and I noticed 2 regs. They were older men. Pretty much ABC players. You know the kind I am talking about if you play live poker. All you have to do is raise to ISO them and CBET. If they don’t have anything they fold. If they give you any resistance, give it up. The rest of the table was Weak Passive.

I was up about $40 when the first interesting hand came up. I was on the button and follow 4 limpers with 9[c]T[d]. The flop was 7[h]7[d]8[c]. Checks to me and I semi bluff $10 into the pot. I get two callers. The turn was a 6[d]. BINGO. I filled my straight and when it checked to me again I bet $20 and much to my surprise I got one caller on my right. 3[d] on the river and he checks to me again. I make a value bet of $25 and then the guy min raises me!!! I pay him off thinking he went runner runner flush on me, but he turns over 7[s]8[h]. Well played buddy. Way to maximize your big hands.

I chipped up to +$20 when the following hand happens. A short stack from UTG raises All-In to $6 every folds to a weak passive player on the button who calls. I sweat A[d]K[c] from the SB and I bump it to $26 straight. Button calls and the flop reveals an 8-9-4r. I notice that the button checks out of turn and I fire $40 at the pot. He calls. Uh ohhhh. 2[d] on the turn and I fire another $85 at the pot, but this time he folds. Whewwwww. I thought I learned my lesson the last time I tried to bluff in a live game. LOL. I drag the nice sidepot, but the All-In raiser turns over 4-4 for a set. Oh well. After the hand I told the guy I knew he didn’t have a strong hand because he checked out of turn. I made $60 off of him, so the coaching lesson wasn’t free for him. I was proud of myself that I picked up on him checking out of turn and I actually followed through with a 2 barrell bluff with AK. He said he J-T for the straight draw.

A couple of orbits go by and my wife calls me and says that she is getting into Bossier. I cash out my $105 win and call it a day. I promptly hand my winnings over to her. Women are the rake guys!!! Don’t forget it.


Good Luck Guys!!!!

By Mr_Taterhead on March 25th, 2008

I was very fortunate to have Good Friday off from my job, so you can guess how I spent my day off. That’s right. I made a trip to the 'Shoe. I arrived at the 'Shoe around noon and when I walked into the room I was shocked to see that the room was rocking. I went directly to the brush and chec...

By GarryM on May 12th, 2008

Two 4/8 sessions on 5-10 and 5-11 for just under 4 hours total.
Saturday bought in for $100 then got felted after about and hour. Rebought for another $100 and ended up taking away $338 and hour later.

Sunday bought in just before the 10am splash the pot for $100. was down to my last few chips after about 45 mins again. That time A3o in the BB. Flopped a set of 3s. Rivered an A for the boat to bring be back to live.
Later had 74 spades in the BB, flop 8 9 10 all spades. 6 of spades on the turn, two just kept betting and then calling my raise. River was trash and two check callers to me. Put me well on the plus side for the day and I stayed there. Picked up after hour and 45 minutes with a $33 profit.

To go with about $125 profit from El Dorado the night before had almost $300 profit for the weekend.

By GarryM on May 12th, 2008

Two 4/8 sessions on 5-10 and 5-11 for just under 4 hours total. Saturday bought in for $100 then got felted after about and hour. Rebought for another $100 and ended up taking away $338 and hour later. Sunday bought in just before the 10am splash the pot for $100. was down to my last few chips ...

By Landlord79 on January 13th, 2009

The Big 3-OOHHH!!
Once again, I celebrated my birthday at the always accommodating Horseshoe-Bossier City. This year was a special year for me as it was my 30th. (I still feel like I’m 24ish.) As I take an inventory of my life at 30, I see that I am very blessed. I’m married to a wonderfully beautiful and incredible wife. I’ve got a miraculously healthy 3 year old baby boy. My wife and I are both healthy, physically and spiritually, and we’re financially stable despite a tumultuous year in real-estate in 2008.

I haven’t been to a casino in a long while, nor have I been playing much online. It got too big for a while and I decided to pull the plug on it. I still get my fix from time to time online, but the serious study of the game and the dependence on the extra income I’ve cut out. (The income has been sorely missed.) There is no more 18 tabling for me and I’ve forgotten more about poker than most average people will ever learn. I’m down to 2 or 3 tables and only playing once every 2 to 3 weeks or so. My bb/100 has skyrocketed though, so that is one positive. Oh, and despite my best efforts in the 2nd half of 2008, I spent all of my bankroll on paying down my wife’s car, vacations and other miscellaneous crap.

We arrived at the HSBC a few minutes before 7pm and had to rush to check in and unload our bags in order to join our friends at Sushiko at the Louisiana Boardwalk. The LA Boardwalk is in walking distance of the HSBC, but unfortunately, Sushiko is at the other end of this massive outdoor mall, so we drove. The food was good but it took 2 hrs to get it. We ordered a “Boat,” which consisted of an assortment of Sashimi (raw fish), Nigirisushi (raw fish over rice) and 2 Norimaki (rolls.) My wife and her friend were expecting more rolls, but they obviously weren’t listening to the waitress when she said twice that the “Boat” only contained 2 rolls. The “Boat” is an actual 2’x 8” wooden boat that docks in the middle of your table. They have “Ships” also, but the “boat” handily served 4. The food was an A-, Service was a B and the Environment was a solid A, less a 15 point deduction for our long wait. Overall, I’d count the experience as a good one B+ after a curve bonus due to the fact that I had good friends around me to carry the 2 hour delay.

When we finally returned to the HSBC around 10pm everyone made a break for their favorite money pits. Several fell victim to the one armed bandits, others decided to try their luck at craps. Of the 4 couples that celebrated my birthday at the HSBC, only 1 couple came away a winner at the craps tables. As for me, I wisely made my way down to my favorite sweet-spot, the exquisite HSBC poker room. I’ve been to 3 rooms in Tunica, 5 in Biloxi, 2 in Vicksburg and the El Dorado poker room across the river in Shreveport and IMO the HSBC’s room is at the top of the list. It's a bit smaller than the others, but it’s always clean, the dealers are well trained, polite and professional; there are flatties everywhere; the service is great and you can get seated exceptionally fast at your game of choice. On this night, I was put on the list for the $1/3 NL game and immediately agreed to sit at a $4/8 limit game. Within 10 minutes my name was called and I was playing America’s new favorite game, the unlimited version of Texas Hold Thems.

I tried an old game of spot the sucker and it was just like riding a bike. The loud mouth at the end of the table was telling everyone that “He doesn’t want none of this!” He proceeded to turn over a rivered gut-shot ftw. He was playing every hand and betting hard and talking big when he had it or else he was keeping quiet and betting small when he didn’t. Luckily, 2 very capable regulars got up and left the table soon after I sat down, they were replaced by 2 rednecks wearing matching Stihl hats. The 2 new additions quickly proved very profitable for me as I proceeded to bust the loud-mouth and one of the rednecks in successive hands. I could say that it was my egggggspurt poker playing and mental prowess that allowed me to take their money, but the truth is that I flopped 2 consecutive flushes with suited connectors in late position and they both blew up in turn on the flop. I only had to sweat the bare ace against the loud mouth and the redneck blew up w/ top pair top kicker from the blinds in a multi-way limped pot. About the time that I got my tiny mound of chips stacked and a text message out to Mr_Taterhead about how EZ poker is, my wife walked up to tell me that she’s done gambling and that she’s ready for me to come upstairs. [i]“WOWIE, WOWIE, WOWIE!!! Sorry boys, I hate to hit-n-run, but when the wife says she’s ready, it’s time to gogogogogoogogo!!”[/i] I quickly cashed in my $350 win and headed upstairs to cash in my favorite birthday present of all time!

We rejoined Mr_Taterhead and our other pals the next morning for a late breakfast at the HSBC’s ever enjoyable buffet. With full bellies the guys headed back into the casino for a try at winning some of our money back from the craps tables. The other wives took what little money was left from the destruction that was the night before and tried to throw that away at the LA Boardwalk mall. My wife had latched on like a Michael Vick pit-bull to a large bite of my prior night’s poker winnings, I'm sure that the GAP appreciated it. I gave most of the red-necks money back to the casino, and then luckily my wife called and said that they were all done shopping. If the truth be told, I left there with what I came with and my wife was all the richer for my good fortune at poker. AH, the good life!

By Landlord79 on January 13th, 2009

The Big 3-OOHHH!! Once again, I celebrated my birthday at the always accommodating Horseshoe-Bossier City. This year was a special year for me as it was my 30th. (I still feel like I’m 24ish.) As I take an inventory of my life at 30, I see that I am very blessed. I’m married to a wonderfu...