By EdmondDantes on July 31st, 2007

I went to the Hustler the other night to check out some of the NL cash games. I sat in a $500 min buy-in (I bought in for $1000)...blinds were $5/$10. Hands of the night for me were as follows.

#1. UTG with AA. It had been an active table so I limp. Sure enough, there's a MP raiser to $30...two callers. Back to me...I reraise to $200. Two folds and the BB, who had called the $30...pushed. I called. He turned over A3o (ok then) and I took down a nice $600 pot. I was the only one all night who limped reraised. I would have done it EVERY time I had JJ+ in EP.

#2. 88 on the DB. An EP raiser to $40 had two callers. I called for $40. Flop came K68 (nice!), two spades. EP raiser bet $120...one caller...$120 to me to call...roughly $400 in the pot. I reraised $300 more (concerned about the flush draw). Both guys looked disgusted and folded.

#3. Couple hands later I'm UTG+1 with JJ. Asian guy (one of the disgusted caller/folders in hand #2 above) put on a $20 straddle. I make it $80 to go. Three callers! Flop comes Qxx, and I lead out with $200 stack of chips. I wouldn't advocate a continuation bet here with all those callers, but I felt pretty strongly my JJ was good (I wouldn't have fired at a A or K flop). Everyone looked disgusted and folded to the Asian guy that bought the straddle. He looked like he wanted to skin me alive...and folded. Note: I've played with him in a tournament before; he's very active PF.

Overall, I finished up about $1200 over my original $1000 buy-in. At his table, my friend Rick finished up $103 on his original $50 buy-in.

Couple of things I noted.

#1. It's a 9-handed table and 4-5 person pots were common. I was the tightest player at the table. Two other guys were almost as tight; very easy to duck them when they came into a pot.

#2. I saw people calling PF raises with K7o, T9o, A7s, 43s, etc. When I reraised hard PF with hands...AK a couple of times, JJ, etc....or on the flop...it was pretty disruptive. The only hand I showed down all night was the all-in AA v A3o.

#3. Guys repeatedly paid off A high flops. AKx flop. KQ calls to the river. Dude, WTF? Didn't you see the A on board and the PF raiser betting out the flop, turn and river?

#4. I think the ability to fire a second bullet (the turn bet) is important. Everyone seemed to call the flop bet whether they have a piece of it or not. 4th hand of the night, I raised with AK. Had one caller. Figure $100 in the pot. I whiff the flop but bet $100 at Q high flop. He calls (note that when guys had something, a draw, a piece of the flop, an underpair, etc., they call almost immediately in this game). Not that it matters, but the guy is some cheesy dude with an open shirt, no t-shirt, goatee and sunglasses, with an unlit cigar in his mouth. Seems to know everyone, casino manager, dealer, couple of other players, etc. In any event, I get the sense he's got something (but not much) and if I fire again, I'm good. I whiff the turn, but pause and state "Two hundred." and move a stack forward. He insta-folds.

#5. Guys bet straight and flush draws aggressively, i.e. reraising with them. And fishing for flushes was common. Q5d with two diamonds on the flop? To the river we go! Also, every time a third of a suit would hit, 2-3 guys would recheck their pocket cards. I personally think its much easier to play against the three flush card board when you're pretty sure your opponent only has 1 underneath.

#6. Guys don't respect the concept of a kicker. I saw A7 and A5 duking it out to the river. Likewise KT v K8. One hand early on, two guys were both playing a 5. Board was 5779Q. At showdown, one guy says, "I have a 5." The other guy says "How big?" The other says, "56." The guy who asked then checks his hand and says, "You're good" and mucks. He later confided that he made a mistake; he didn't even have a 5. $200 pot...betting what he THOUGHT he had.

Overall, it's a soft game, and the guy to my left, who says he plays there a lot, said it wasn't as good as it usually is. Put differently, I think the 9-handed $5/10 game on Bodog is somewhat tougher.

Keep digging.

Edmond

By EdmondDantes on July 31st, 2007

I went to the Hustler the other night to check out some of the NL cash games. I sat in a $500 min buy-in (I bought in for $1000)...blinds were $5/$10. Hands of the night for me were as follows. #1. UTG with AA. It had been an active table so I limp. Sure enough, there's a MP raiser to $30...two...

By EdmondDantes on July 31st, 2007

I played the Hustler Wednesday night tournament tonight. For those of you who haven't played it, it's a $150 buy-in with a $25 fee, no rebuy freezeout that draws around 110 entrants and pays 9-10 spots. The tournament has a decent structure; you start with 2000 chips and the level times are 25 minutes. You have to get active early, though, because the jump around level 5 (from 100/200/25 ante to 200/400/50 ante) is brutal. Fortunately, tonight I had the good fortune of getting cards. Not that it mattered.

I got there a little late (the tournament starts at 7p and they seat until 7:30 or so) and sat midway through level 1. On my 3rd or 4th hand in, I was UTG with AA with the blinds now at 25/50. I raised to 200 hoping I'd get some loose action behind me and was pleased when MP player pushed for another 1500 or so and a 3rd player re-raised all-in behind him. I called instantly and tripled up when my AA held v QQ and JJ. Nice start.

A few hands later, I raised in late position with AKs and the BB pushed for another 1000 or so more. I called and added another 1500 or so to my stack when my AK held versus his ATs.

At that point I was content to fold for a while, but within three orbits I had AA again in mid position. With the blinds now at 100/200/no ante, I raised to 600. The big stack directly to my left called and one of the blinds pushed for another 1500. With action back to me, I contemplated a minor re-raise, but decided I might get some loose action from the big stack. I pushed, hoping he'd think I was trying to isolate with a weaker holding and call. He went into the tank and folded (confiding later that he held T5s) and my AA held versus a smaller pair.

At this point, I was the big stack at the table and managed to add chips with a UTG raise with AKs and a BB raise with ATs with 3 limpers in the pot. I also avoided some trouble with top pair in the BB, playing cautiously and ducking a flopped straight by another player. I felt good about my stack size and table image with a well-above average stack and blinds moving up.

The the trouble started. At level 7, with the blinds were 300/600/75 ante, I was in the cutoff with KQs and made it 2500 to go. The button pushed (ugh!) and I called off another 2200 on a 6500 chip pot, hoping I'd see an underpair. He showed JJ (not so bad) and a lovely Q hit the flop. Unfortunately, a gruesome J hit the turn and I was beaten down to 4000 chips, slightly below average. I'm fine with the play but the result was definitely a bummer.

With the blinds where they were, the carnage was widespread and within minutes, my table broke and I was seated in the big blind at my new table. Action folded to the button (the big stack), who limped. The small blind (a short stack) pushed for 1500 and I looked down and found AJs. I pushed hoping for some folding equity and was relieved when the button folded. Unfortunately, the SB showed AQo v my AJs, and with no help on the board I was getting closer to the felt. I folded my SB (K2s) to an EP push and figured the next decent hand I had I'd push. I didn't have to wait long; on the very next hand I found myself with AKo on the button (nice!). When the cut-off (again the big stack at the table) raised to 1800, I welcomed the action and pushed. I was a little disheartened, though, when the big blind pushed behind me for another 4000 more. WTF? The big stack called and we showed my AKo v 66 (big blind) v the big stack's KTo. I hated seeing one of my outs in another hand but under the circumstances, I'd take it. The flop was AWESOME...AAx...two clubs. Unfortunately, the turn and river were horrid, running clubs to give the 66 a winning flush. I was out in 26th place or so.

Overall, I was happy with my play and I can't complain about not having cards. Of the 100+ hands I saw, I had AA twice, AK three times, ATs and AJs once each, KQs, KQo and AQo (I folded the KQo and AQo) to some nasty pre-flop action, A9s, 77, 44 and KJo. I also folded at least 3-4 other Ax hands pre-flop. But it just goes to show, that you really do need a little luck in these tournaments. Maybe next week.

Keep digging,

Edmond

By EdmondDantes on July 31st, 2007

I played the Hustler Wednesday night tournament tonight. For those of you who haven't played it, it's a $150 buy-in with a $25 fee, no rebuy freezeout that draws around 110 entrants and pays 9-10 spots. The tournament has a decent structure; you start with 2000 chips and the level times are 25 min...

By lakong on November 9th, 2006

So I was speaking to Edmond yesterday and he mentioned that he was heading out to the Hustler for their Wed. tournament. If you read my blog from yesterday you'll see where I say that I haven't played in a few months and that I was planning to jump back in next Monday. Well, I decided to join Ed and play last night.

Boy was it boring

I played in the tournament for about 1.5 hours and the live game for about 1.5 hours. I saw AQ once, JJ once, 55 twice, KJ twice and AT once. Those were my good hands. Not much to speak of. I also had a few playable hands like 89s, QTs, etc., but never hit a flop.

Tournament

It was a $150 buyin with $25 fee. There were a bit over 100 entrants and we started with 2,000 chips. I basically had 3 hands to speak of in addition to a bunch of the standard little stuff.

[i]Hand 1[/i]

Blinds 25/25. MP raises to 75. I call from LP with KJ, another player calls. Flop is all low rags. Everyone checks. Turn brings a [c] flush draw. Checked to me, I make it 150, only the initial raiser calls. River J[c]. Good and bad. Initial raiser makes it 250. I don't like it, but call. He turns over A7[c] . Oh, well.

[i]Hand 2[/i]

Blinds 25/25. 3 limpers to me in SB. I complete with K4s. Flop comes 47J. Checked around. Turn is a blank. I checked, MP makes it 75. Folded to me and I decide to just make a loose call with the thought of taking it on the river with a bluff. The river pairs the 7. I figure if he doesn't have the 7 I can win here with a bet. I bet 250. He throws in a 500 chip. He meant to raise, but didn't say raise -- not that it would have mattered either way. He had j7 for a full house. So much for my 'amazing' reading skills.

[i]Hand 3[/i]

Level 3. Blinds are now 50/100 and I have about 1100. At this point I cannot mess around with raises unless I'm willing to play for all of my chips. About halfway through the level I'm dealt AQs in EP. I make a standard raise to 300. MP calls. I make the decision that I'm doing a stop and go and will push on any flop -- the guy has me covered by a little but my extra 800 is meaningful to him so I have plenty of FE. My plans get postponed when I see a great flop of QT8. Now I change my plans and decide to go for a check-raise. He bets 300 after my check and I push. He complains that he now has to call the remaining 500 and does. He turns over 99. Beautiful. Well, not really. The turn is a 7 and the and the river is a 6, giving him runner/runner straight and I'm out.

That was fun!


Live Game

I usually like to play in the $5/10 NL game, but they weren't spreading one so I played in the $2/5 game. The buy-in is $100-300 and I buy in for $300. Once again, I don't get many hands. Here are 4 hands that are somewhat interesting. You'll see that I didn't play them particularly well.

[i]Hand 1[/i]

A guy 3 to my left is straddling ever time I'm on the button. Second time around I have 55 and call his straddle of $10. He just checks. Flop is the wonderful A95o. He bets $20, and I decide that my plan now is to figure out how to get all of his chip. I don't want to just call because it would make it hard to get all of his money on future streets (he still has about $150 left). I make a raise to $60 and he calls. The turn is the case 5 giving me quads. He checks and I bet $75. He calls. River is a blank, he checks and I force him all-in and he calls. Not sure what he had. I sure wish he had more chips, oh well... but I'm not complaining.

[i]Hand 2[/i]

Next orbit. Same situation. Same guy straddles. I look down at 55 again and call. He now raises to $50. Hmmm. He reloaded so has about $300 behind him. If he had $100-150 I probably put him all-in, but I'm concerned that he might have a hand or just the balls to call and I'm going to be 50/50 at best. Of all of the choices (fold, raise, push, call) I believe I made the absolute worsts which is call. Flop comes AJ9, he bets $100 and I have to fold. I didn't really have the proper odds to get paid if I hit my set, so I have no idea why I was in there. Probably because it was so coincidental that I had 55 again and wasn't going to fold it given the quads the last time I folded. Good poker thinking! Probably the best move would have been to make a good PF raise with my 55. Something like 30-40. Anyway, so much for that hand.

[i]Hand 3[/i]

JJ in EP. I make it 15, short-stack woman to my left calls, guy from 55 hands makes it 40. I think of pushing but decide to call. Lady calls. Flop comes QT5 rainbow. I want to see where I stand so I make it $100. Lady goes all-in for her last $80. Guy calls but he doesn't seem happy with my bet. I put him on AK or a pair under mine. Turn is a blank. This is my mistake. I decide here to check which is terrible -- I wasn't playing weak here. I really thought he would bet if I checked and I wanted him to bet given my read. He seems happy to check. Now I really think my read is good and I just misread his level of aggression. I will now bet any turn that doesn't include an A or K. Unfortunately it is a K. I hate that card! I check and he makes it $120. I don't like it but given my weakness on the turn I feel that he could easily be trying to take it away with a hand like 99 or 88. I also know that I'll have to see his hand given the all-in player and don't want to learn that I would have won. So I call and both of my opponents turn over AK. If I bet the turn, I wouldn't have won any more money because the all-in player would still have taken most of the pot, however, I would have avoided losing the $120. I was a big favorite to win a nice pot going into the river (they had only 6 outs -- 2xK, 2xA, 2xJ).

[i]Hand 4[/i]

I really screwed this one with my meak play. MP raises to 15, two limpers to me in SB with 7[h]8[h]. It will be my last hand either way, so I call. Flop comes A[h]9[h]6[c]. I check. Loose MP player makes it only $25. Folded to me, I call. Turn is J[d]. I check. MP makes it $50. I figure that I have 12 outs, and the pot is offering me a bit less than the odds I need, but I figure if he has an A I can get him to pay me what I need on the river. I call. The river blanks. I check and he checks. Turns out he hated my call because he only had a 6. On the one hand I had 6 additional outs so easily had the odds to call. But in reality I screwed up the hand. There is no reason why I shouldn't have pushed on the turn after his bet. I was probably influenced by the fact that I was ready to stand up and cash out and didn't wanted to be stacked at that time. Not good reasoning.

In summary, I didn't get many hands or good flops. But I also played much too sheepishly. There were hands that I won where I pushed people off hands, but in the critical spots I always found a reason to play less aggressively. Not good!

By lakong on November 9th, 2006

So I was speaking to Edmond yesterday and he mentioned that he was heading out to the Hustler for their Wed. tournament. If you read my blog from yesterday you'll see where I say that I haven't played in a few months and that I was planning to jump back in next Monday. Well, I decided to join Ed a...

By EdmondDantes on January 26th, 2007

Played the new tournament room at the Hustler for the first time last night. About two months ago, the Hustler renovated the room behind the old tournament area and added 18 new tables with yellow felt (!) and automatic shufflers. There are new chairs, more room and flat screen TVs on the walls but other than that no other added amenities. I liked the intimacy of the old, smaller room, but larger tournaments often spilled out into the main floor. In contrast, the new room is spacious and well-lit with plenty of room to move around and accomodate larger turnouts.

Apparently, the new room is a nice draw. The Wed night $150 buy-in/$25 fee freezeout tournament used to draw about 120 entrants. Last night, there were 150+ entrants including Jerry Buss and a number of tawdry hotties that seemed to be hanging with him. For anyone that hasn't played this tournament, it's well-run and always has a pretty good mix of players. It usually has a prize pool of $15,000+ and runs about 5-6 hours; the blinds start at 25/25 and the level times are 25 minutes. The tournament starts at 7p, but late entries are allowed until the end of level 1. As it was, traffic was a bummer and I got there a little late so my starting stack had been whittled down to about 1900 when I finally took my seat.

On my second or third hand (blinds at 25/50), I'm in the big blind with J[d] J[c] . There was an early raiser to 200 by the big stack at the table (an attractive friend of Jerry's with a lap dog...gotta love the Hustler!) with one other limper behind her. Without any reads and not wild about committing a 1/3 of my stack out of position, I decide to call and re-evaluate post-flop. Flop came Kxx...gross...I check, two checks behind. Ok, I figure maybe I'm good and I'll bet a blank turn. Ace on the turn...ugh...check, check, check. Uh, what are you guys playing? The river was a blank, I checked again, with the intention of calling a reasonable bet. Check, check...JJ is good. Ok, that was pitiful, but I'll take the 600 chips.

Four or five hands later, I'm in middle position with Q[h] Q[s] . EP raiser had made it 200, and I bumped it to 600. One of the blinds pushed for another 275, and the original raiser called for 875. I called the additional 275, and the flop came Axx two spades. EP pushes for another 1000 or so. I figure I'm cooked and fold. EP turns over 85s (nh, sir!) and the re-raiser from the blinds shows KK. Turn was a spade and 85s took the pot and sent KK packing. I'm back down to 1800 or so.

Card dead through the 100/200 level and blinded down to about 1200, I pushed from late position with A[d] T[c] . BB (shorter than me) called with TT. I don't improve and I'm 75 chips from the felt. Two hands later, I'm in with A[c] 9[c] and called by BB with T2o. 9 on the flop, but T-bagged on the river and off to the cash games!

Note on service in the new room. The tableside service was noticably worse than usual. The cocktail waitress serving the room made only occasional trips to the room and I had to twice remind her of my order. The food was also sketchy at best; I order chicken teriyaki which was two grilled chicken breasts (dry), some white rice and a side of coagulated, salty brown sauce more like bad maple syrup than teriyaki sauce. It was kind of disgusting (although I did eat it!) and a sharp contrast to the Bike and Commerce, which, I've found, serve pretty good food. Despite the service shortcomings, I'd still give the new room good marks. It and the Wednesday tournament are worth checking out.

Ok, time to win back my buy-in in the ring games. When I got to the NL ring section, they were just calling players for a new $2/5 $100 min/$300 max NL game. Note on other NL action: at 9p, I counted at least five $1/2 $50 NL tables, four other $2/5 tables and a $5/10 table.

At the new table, the other players included a couple of guys who seemed like good players and the balance limp/call/call any draw types. I didn't recognize anyone and figured I'd just play my typical TAG style and people watch. As it was, I only mixed it up in a few hands.

Hand #1. In late position, with A[s] Q[s] , middle position pushed for $88 behind two EP limpers. When I asked "How much is that?", the pusher looked like he wanted to vomit so I figured I was probably up against a middle pair, maybe even something like AJ or KQ. I called, table folded behind me. Flop, turn, river all blanks. I show the AQ, and the MP pusher mucked. Ship it! I'm usually not one to make a 15 BB call with AQ, but the pusher had been aggressive with hands like QJo and A5s so I figured his range here is pretty wide. Admittedly, there may have been a little post-tournament frustration leaking out but whatever. AQ...winner, winner, skip the chicken dinner!

Hand #2. In EP with AA, I raised to $20. A $150 stack behind me (younger, tech type that seemed ok although he'd chased several draws) insta-raised to $60. Table folded around and I re-raised $200 more. The second I did I regretted it since given my tight image (I'd played 2-3 hands at that point) I might just as well have announced "I have aces.", but he surprised me and said "Ok, let's gamble." and showed JJ. Uh, dude, no gambling here. Ship it! In retrospect, I was thinking when the table folded to his $60 re-raise, I could've just called and tried to coax the rest of his stack in on the flop. Not unhappy with the result, obviously, but sometimes I think I could be a little less thuggish with AA preflop. In any event, now at $500+.

Hand #3. A[h] J[h] in EP, not a hand I like to play OOP, but I made it $15 to go with 4 callers behind. Flop was TT8 two spades. Checked to me, and I considered betting but figured with five players my continuation bet is called for sure and any spade or straight draw calls me so I checked. Check, check. Turn is an A. Again, checked to me. I usually bet for value here, but for some reason I figured I'd check and call a bet. Nope. Check, check. River is another 8. Check, check. Ok, now I bet $20 and am called by a guy with pocket fours. "I have a pocket pair.", he says. I show the ace thinking, "Uh, no...you have the board." and stack my chips. $570+, up $270 on the session. Not my best tournament and ring play, but I'll take it.

Final note: the Hustler recently bumped its rake to help offset the California minimum wage increases. In the $2/5 game I played, they now pull $1 pre-flop, $5 on the flop and $1 for the jackpot. At 35 hands/hour, that's about $225/hour coming out of player bankrolls. Of the nine players at the table, only two of us were sitting with $300+, so figure about $2000 or less was on the table. Kind of crazy to think that 10-15% of that was being pulled each hour for rake, and I'm not sure anyone but me even noticed or cared!

For reference, if anyone wants to check out other info I collected on Hustler ring games, you can check it out here.

Comparison of LA poker rooms

Edmond

By EdmondDantes on January 26th, 2007

Played the new tournament room at the Hustler for the first time last night. About two months ago, the Hustler renovated the room behind the old tournament area and added 18 new tables with yellow felt (!) and automatic shufflers. There are new chairs, more room and flat screen TVs on the walls bu...

By joelgittel on January 31st, 2007

Visited the Hustler on Thursday night for a little $2/5 NL. I'm not crazy about their structure because they have a $300 max buyin ($100 min). I believe this attracts very tight players and many short-stacks. In fact, for the 4-5 hours I played I don't believe there were ever more than 50% of the players with max or better stacks. There were always 3-4 people with no more than $100 and often only $25-50. This makes it tough to get the correct implied odds to make plays with small suited connectors and even small to medium pairs.

I buy in for the max of $300. Things started off well. On the second hand I'm delt JJ. I raise to $15, get one caller from the blinds and flop top set. The small blind bets $25 and I decide to just call with the intention of raising on the turn. My decision is made for me when the blind pushes his remaining $150 on the turn when a blank hits. I call and take the pot. He had flopped bottom set. Good start.

For the next hour or two my stack goes back and forth between $200 and $400. I was rivered about 4 times when I had the winning hand. One time I flopped the nut straight and bet it strong all the way through only to have my opponent hit the 4th straight card on the river to tie me (he had TP with flush draw, it could have been worse). Another time I flopped a low flush, bet the pot, was called and the 4th flush card came on the turn and I had to give it up.

After the second hour or so I won a few key hands – KK vs. TT, nut straight on turn vs. set, etc., etc., and managed to get my stack up to $900. My table was playing very tight post flop, but preflop it was very, very limpy. The vast majority of pots (if I didn’t lead out!) were limped. I did join in some times, but I almost always raised if I was going to come in. In fact, 70-80% of the time from the CO or button I would raise blind and take down the pot with a continuation bet (also blind) on the flop if it was checked to me. I also cold called raises a few times when I had position with any two cards and would raise when checked to me to take down several pots. Of course, I would mix in some checks and folds so it wasn’t too obvious.

Towards the end of the night I did lose about $400 of my profit with two key hands.

Hand 1: I’m in the BB and the SB calls, I raise with Q9. He calls and we see a flop of 48Q. He checks, I bet about 2/3rds of the pot. The turn pairs the four, he checks, I bet 2/3rds of the pot again and he pushes another $90. I felt I had to call – there was a flush draw, plus I felt that he felt that I was being aggressive and could have been making a move. He had K4!

Hand 2: My last hand. A weak player 2 to my right raises and I call, again with Q9. Flop comes 669 high. He bets $20 into a $35 pot and I call. Turn is a 2, he bets $35 which seemed really weak to me so I raise another $100 trying to represent the 6 or a big pair. He took quite a bit of time, but called. River was a 3 (no flush or straight). I felt I was beat for sure given his call on the turn so I either give it up or continue to represent a strong hand. I decide to bet $150. He takes a lot of time. During his deliberations he says something like ‘could you have been slowplaying a big hand?’. I’m thinking to myself ‘Slowplaying?’. How much more strength could I have shown? I call his bet preflop, call on the flop, raise on the turn and make a large bet on the river. Anyway, I knew at this point that he wasn’t really capable of understanding what I was trying to convey and that he would call. I put him on TT-QQ or maybe A9. Sure enough he calls and turns over QQ.

Oh, well! I did leave with $450 so it wasn’t terrible.

By joelgittel on January 31st, 2007

Visited the Hustler on Thursday night for a little $2/5 NL. I'm not crazy about their structure because they have a $300 max buyin ($100 min). I believe this attracts very tight players and many short-stacks. In fact, for the 4-5 hours I played I don't believe there were ever more than 50% of the...

By lakong on April 17th, 2007

I made my way over to the Huslter last night for the 7pm tournament. Hadn't played any poker for a few weeks so when StrayBullet mentioned that he would be in town and was game for meeting at the Hustler, I was in. I showed up a few hours early and took a seat at the $5/10 NL table. Actually, they didn't have a seat initially so i played a little 2/5 for about 30 minutes. The buy-in there was $300 and I ran that up to about $500 when my seat opened at the 5/10 table. I bought in for another 300. My stacked only moved a bit in the time I spent there. It was about 6:50 and I was about to cash in my chips so that I could take my seat for the 7pm tournament when this LAST hand came up.

I'm in LP with A[d] K[c] and there is one limper to me. I make it $35. One blind comes in and the limper completed. The flop comes K[s] J[h] 8[s] . Checked to me and I make it $110. The blind folds and the limper calls.

The turn is the Q[d]. It's limped to me again. This guy had only been playing for about 20 minutes but I did see him calling a few hands and showing down top pair, weak kicker type holdings, so I felt a weak K was in his range. I also felt that if he had trips, two pair or just hit the straight I would find out right now. So I bet $200 and he called pretty quickly which made me think that he was on the flush draw.

The river was an offsuit A. So now I have two pair, but a T completes the straight. Within just a few seconds he pushes in all of his chips and he has me covered. I have just over $500 left. So I have invested 350ish in the pot so far and there is about 1200 in the pot in total.

Could he have had a broken flush draw with the T[s] ? How about a hand like KT? As i said before, I really don't see him having a set here given the flush draw on board he would have had to raise.

As for reads, I did see him showing down some suspect holdings, but haven't seen him make any big bluffs. He did look like the kind of player who was capable of it, but that was just a gut feeling, no specifics to rely on.

What would you do and why? Results to follow.

By lakong on April 17th, 2007

I made my way over to the Huslter last night for the 7pm tournament. Hadn't played any poker for a few weeks so when StrayBullet mentioned that he would be in town and was game for meeting at the Hustler, I was in. I showed up a few hours early and took a seat at the $5/10 NL table. Actually, th...

By StrayBullet on April 20th, 2007

Last but not least, with work looming, I had to get setup for a week of training. After completing the business side of the trip, I decided to ditch my original plans of playing the Commerce on Monday and opted for The Hustler after talking with fellow 2+2r Scooterdoo (lakong here on tworags ). I was much more impressed with this facility, more along the lines of what I'd expected! It was a $125 with a single $100 rebuy which I took right away, and must've been the only one out of the 129 registed as I got some seriously odd looks! Most simply rebought when they got low or busted....VERY odd!

T3k in chips and starting at 25/25 with 25 minute levels. Auto shufflers and decent dealers kept the game moving but it seemed like I was the only one who didn't know anyone in the room as it was a 129 person home game! I chipped up with AA in the sb, just completing, praying the bb had a hand. He pushed, I called, my hand held. I caught again with AK against a weaker ace and we were off, or so it seemed. I lost with AQ v AT when trips took the wind outta my sails. Firmly in short-stack mode, I made the most of my marginal hands and position, allowing me to make the money for the 1st time in 4 days! They paid 18, again odd, as 18-16 only paid out $250, a WHOPPING $25 over the total buy-in. Ended up busting 13th, for $275. Somehow though I'd still lost money as I tipped out $5, had 2 beers for $10 total then bought a cool card-protector from George Malowe (just a .com) who makes the little cermaic characters that reminded me of Von Dutch and Robert Crumb, for $50. Had a great time and met some really cool players, overall, no complaints at all!

Tuesday (today) was the first day of training and after a LONG day, it was not in the cards to play cards. I do plan on making the $225 Stars&Stripes event at The Bike tomorrow nite, wish me luck! What a week!

By StrayBullet on April 20th, 2007

Last but not least, with work looming, I had to get setup for a week of training. After completing the business side of the trip, I decided to ditch my original plans of playing the Commerce on Monday and opted for The Hustler after talking with fellow 2+2r Scooterdoo (lakong here on tworags ). I wa...

By lakong on April 23rd, 2007

Played in the $125 plus one rebuy tournament last Monday. There were approximately 130 entrants and we started off with 1500 chips at the 25/25 level. I'll just report on a few significant hands:

1) Get AQ in mid-position and make it 100 after one limper. Both blinds call as does limper. Flop comes AT5 rainbow. I make it 350 and get check-raised all-in by BB. I played with him for a while in a cash game while I waited for this tournament and he seemed pretty solid and reasonable. In a non-rebuy event or perhaps in a bigger buy-in event I fold here in a minute -- especially given that there was no flush draw on the board that he could be semi-bluffing with. However, given that this is a rebuy event I called for two reasons a) there is a chance he could be making a move with AJ or even the same hand as me. If he had AK I'm pretty sure he raises preflop; and b) it's a rebuy event so I can just rebuy. I was pretty sure he had AT or A5 and sure enough he had AT and I had to rebuy. Not crazy about my call, oh, well...

2) Nothing much happens for a while and then at the 25/50 level I call a raise from lp with KQ. Three of us see a flop of AKT, so I have second pair and a gut shot. EP makes it 400 and one guy calls before its to me. There's about 1300-1400 in pot and neither of these guys seems that strong. I don't think the 2nd guy has a strong A or he would have raised. The first guy could have a strong A but he could also have a flush draw (2 spades on board) or a weaker A, he's also the initial raiser so he could be making a continuation/feeler bet with a pair. I have 1500 left and decide to push. The 1100 more is significant to both assuming they don't love their hands. Even if they have an A I still have potentially 10 outs. They both fold and I'm back to even with around 3000 chips.

3) I get QQ from LP at the 50/100 level and make it 350. Two callers. Flop comes with an A. Checked to me. I bet 800 and both fold. That worked out well.

4) Women goes all-in with only about 1000 left. Guy to my right calls. I look down at JJ and push (I have 4000 at this point). Caller folds and I'm heads up against T9 and my J's hold.

5) Here's a mistake: Blinds are 100/200 with 25 ante. I just won a nice pot and am counting my chips when a guy who is short pushes with about 1000. I have AJs from the button and just call. The BB calls. Flop comes QJx and it's checked to me. I make it 1600 and get check-raised all-in by BB. He has me covered and I fold. He had QJ and would have folded PF if I would have isolated the all-in raiser AND my hand would have held-up against the all-in raiser. That sucked, but that's what I get for not paying attention. Unfortunately, I'm usually good for 1 or 2 of these per tournament. Need to avoid these.

6) A little later with blinds at 200/400 and 50 ante there are 3 limpers and I push with A6. I'm down to about 4000 at this point. One guy calls me -- he has me covered and he turns over 55 which is the best I could hope for. I turn an A and double up.

7) For the next hour or so I move up to about 10k, but it's up and down to get there. I come over the top of a 2k pf raise with 99 and he folds (he told me he had 66 and did seem to seriously consider calling... to bad). A few times I try to bully guys off hands and get re-raised and have to fold.

8) We are down around 30 -- pays top 18 or so. I have about 10k in chips with the blinds at 300/600 and 75 ante so there is close to 1500 in pot each hand before betting. I'm about 3rd in chips at my table, but probably around average for all participants.

Folded to button (which is pretty rare at this table). Button makes it 2000. I'm in BB and have K9o. The button is good LAG player. He has shown the ability to fold a hand. Another consideration... when I had A6, he agonized and folded, but there was one caller who had 55 and I won the race. He clearly wasn't happy with his fold that time.

I put myself in the button's shoes. It was fairly rare that it would get folded to the button in this spot with the blinds and antes so large so there were very few hands that he would not raise with. He also wasn't the kind of player to limp from the button knowing that I would likely smell weakness and raise him off his hand. So therefore his range was close to any two cards -- any pair, any A, K, Q, and connectors, two gappers, etc.

I also didn't feel like he was reckless, so he was likely to fold a large % of the hands in his range. Perhaps as high as 70-80%. Do you think this is too high?

Last, even if he called, I would not be in terrible shape to most of these hands. The only hands I really don't want to see are 99-AA, AK-A9 and KQ-KT, and there's a good chance he doesn't call with the K hands given that I could easily have an A.

The pot represented a 3rd of my stack. I'm not sure how this could be a good fold, but I would love to hear thoughts. Anyway, I call he turns over A9 and I get to go home!

By lakong on April 23rd, 2007

Played in the $125 plus one rebuy tournament last Monday. There were approximately 130 entrants and we started off with 1500 chips at the 25/25 level. I'll just report on a few significant hands: 1) Get AQ in mid-position and make it 100 after one limper. Both blinds call as does limper. Flop...

By lakong on May 16th, 2008

Edmond and I made plans to "bring our home game to the Commerce" this past Monday. The Commerce has a great program where they will host your regular home game. They provide the dealer, will furnish snacks and will even offer instruction on some new games if you need it. There is no extra fee; they only take their normal rake depending on the stakes played. No crazy wildcard games allowed. You need to stick to the basic games offered at the Commerce, but that does leave you with lots of options (click here to learn more). We were planning on starting with a basic $300-500 stakes NL game and throw in some H-O-R-S-E games if everyone was up for it.

We were pretty excited to play and Dave Mosikian, head of player relations was set to play with our group. However, Dave had some bad back issues Monday afternoon and had to pass. Could it be that he was channeling Kobe Bryant’s back pain from Sunday’s Lakers game? Dave is a big Lakers/Kobe fan and controls the keys to Commerce’s great luxury box at the Staples Center , so that close link to the Laker great is a real possibility.


Dave hosting a bunch of us at the Commerce box

We were all looking forward to playing with Dave so decided to reschedule for the near future when Dave (and Kobe) feels a bit better. Dave, please get some rest. We’ll looking forward to some future donations at the tables! (note: I’m writing this from a plane ride to NYC the night after game 5 and Kobe’s back is getting better so Dave, there will be no more excuses!).

Alternative Plans at the Huslter ‘s Monday Night Tournament
Since my beautiful wife had already given me a poker pass for the night I decided to meet a few of the guys over at the Hustler for the Monday night NL tournament. It’s a $100 buy-in with one optional $100 rebuy. I arrived about 10 minutes late and was seated right away. My very first hand did not start off good at all. I hit tptk with A9, but my opponent turned two pair and took about 600 of my starting 2000 stack. I immediately requested my one optional rebuy ($100 for another 2k in chips) and proceeded to win my $600 back on the very next hand when I turned the nut straight against my opponent’s middle pair.

Crazy Dealer Mistake Costs me Down the Road
Towards the end of the first level a crazy dealer mistake followed by a questionable floor ruling ending up costing me (indirectly!). Two players are in a pot and by the turn the board reads:

AAQx

The woman to the left of me who is fairly active and aggressive goes all-in and is called by her opponent. She turns over QQ for the full-house and her opponent puts his cards down in front of him without turning them up and says "you got me." The dealer starts moving the cards toward the muck, but given that it’s a tournament and the cards need to be shown I stopped him (I was sitting in the 6 seat and the cards were right in front of me) and asked to see them. Here’s the important part – the cards never hit the muck so there was zero doubt what the cards were. The dealer turns over the cards to show Q rag, for two pair. He also claimed to touch the muck with his other hand indicated that the cards were mucked. Of course the river was a third A! The dealer starts moving all of the chips towards the woman but everyone at the table tries to stop him since this should be a split pot. The losing player seems a bit embarrassed and does nothing to stop him, but we all insist on a ruling.

The floorman comes over and the dealer explains what happened. The floorman rules that yes, this is a tournament and the hands need to be turned over and the player cannot muck his cards prior to the river. This is actually important and is used to prevent collusion. However, the floorman says that it is too late to reconstruct the hand so there is nothing he can do. Too late? He didn’t even ask if they had identical stacks because if they did it would be trivial to reconstruct. If the losing player had more than the woman then at worst, they could split the pot and the woman would be BETTER off. In reality the woman had a bit more, maybe 300-400 but he never asked, and the losing player didn’t protest so no attempt was even made to figure it out.
So how did this effect me? Let me explain...

Down to two Chips, but still alive
For the next level or so I fluctuated a bit between 4-5k when a hand came up where I bet the flop against one player (I’m out of position) with TPTK and a backdoor flush draw. My opponent took a long time to call which told me that there was a good chance he had middle pair. The turn paired and brought me 4 to a flush. I’m concerned that he made trips and if I bet he will raise me and I’ll have to fold, but I really want to see the river. I think of just check-calling, but what if he didn’t have middle pair he would probably fold if I bet. I do decide to bet and he does raise me. I take a while to fold and am visibly upset that I bet. This is important because...

On the very next hand I look down at JJ on the button. Blinds are 50/100 and there are two limpers to me. I make it 600 and am very conscious of the fact that it probably looks to anyone who is noticing that I’m steaming from the last hand. It’s a perfect spot for one of the blinds to raise me and the SB obliges by raising to 1400. She is the active player who won an extra 2k because of the floor decision I previously described. It’s folded to me and given that I was expecting her or the BB to raise and have no reason to believe she has me beat, I go all-in. Oops, she immediately calls and shows KK.

Her stack is fairly close to mine and once the count is made we learn that I had her covered by two chips! Looks like it will be an early night, but wait...

Never Count me Out
I get dealt TJo on the next hand and am tempted to just throw in the two chips, but I’m now in the CO and have a full orbit until the blinds hit me so I decide to just wait and see what happens. My patience is rewarded with AQs a few hands later. I toss my chips in the middle and a few people come along. My AQ holds up for the side pot and I’m now up to 250. It’s a start.

I fold a few hands and now I’m UTG and have a decision to make. I only have K8s, but on the next hand I’ll be in the BB and will basically have to play any hand. Also, if I put my chips in now there’s a chance that everyone will fold to the blinds so I’ll only have to beat 1-2 others. If I wait there could be a limped community pot and I might have to outlast a ton of players. Looks like playing my K8s makes the most sense so I do. A few players join in the pot, but a flopped K gives me hope. When the dust settles a paired board on the turn actually killed my chances of a substantial win, but I do split the sidepot with my opponent’s K3 and I’m now at 400.

On the next hand the blinds go up to 100/200 and I’m in the BB. An EP player raises to 600, a few players call and the button pushes. I have A9 and call and 2 other players call. Believe it or not I have the best hand PF. The button was trying to muscle everyone out with KQ and the other players called with suited connectors. I don’t pair my cards but neither did anyone. I win a pretty nice sidepot and am now up to around 1800. Pretty nice orbit.

Three Strikes (mistakes?) and You’re Out
Not sure if any of the next three hands are serious mistakes but I have second thoughts about all of them. Here’s how they went down:

1) Two hands later I’m on the button with AJo and push. The BB is contemplating calling me and while I’m 99.9% sure that I have a better hand I am so happy to be back in the game that I really don’t want to be sucked out on and would rather just take down the pot right there so I open my trap and tell him that I have a really strong hand and will show him if he folds. He says he has a good hand too, and I say that "you’ll need to suck out, but if that’s what you want to do, you should." After a minute or two he folds KQ face-up. I really should have invited the call and I’m almost certain that he would have called if I just shut up. Of course it would have been about a coinflip, but at that point I should have welcomed the call; especially given that his range likely had an A or J so I would have been a nice favorite to his range. Stupid!

2) I get moved to a new table and find myself UTG with AQ and about 2200 in chips. A standard raise isn’t an option here since I will be pot committed on any flop. I could limp and push against any raiser or just see the flop for only 200 if nobody raises. I decide to push, which is standard of course, but again, I need to be taking a little creative risk here. I really didn’t like the push once I thought it through, but that’s what I did and I won another 300 when everyone folded.

3) On the very next hand the HJ makes it 1k (BB still 200) and it’s folded to me. I look down at TT. I don’t know anything about the HJ’s game but my quick read is that he is a regular and knows what he is doing. He had a called a few players by name and he is in his mid 40’s-early 50’s.

My thought process here was way too quick and missed a lot of the necessary factors. I decide that he’s aggressive and I just cannot fold TT when I’m short-stacked. I called, he turns over AA and I’m out.

Here’s the problem... If I would have spent a bit more time thinking it through and tried harder to put him on a range I probably would have realized that I could narrow it down given his 5xBB bet. What could he possibly have that I would want to see? The only hand in his range that I really want to see is 99. AK is possible and wouldn’t be too bad, but that’s it. When he makes it 5xBB he almost certainly has 99+/KK. Maybe 88 or AQ, but unlikely.

[i]Do you agree?[/i]
The good news is that it was not very costly, the Hustler is only 30 minutes from my house and I got home relatively early. I have to say that it was a fun time. What more could I ask for? Perhaps a final table finish and check?

** BTW, during the break I approached the floorman and discussed his decision on the all-in. His first reaction was that he couldn’t reconstruct the pot at that time, but when I pointed out that he never even asked any questions of the players so how would he know -- he reconsidered. He told me that he was tired and having a bad day and that everyone makes mistakes. He further pointed out that the player never protested and defended himself. If the player did he probably would have come around and tried to split the pot in an equitable manner.

So the lesson here is to always fight for your rights when you believe in your position! I admire the floorman for admitting his mistake. I have always been impressed with the Hustler’s staff and this night did nothing to change my opinion!

By lakong on May 16th, 2008

Edmond and I made plans to "bring our home game to the Commerce" this past Monday. The Commerce has a great program where they will host your regular home game. They provide the dealer, will furnish snacks and will even offer instruction on some new games if you need it. There is no extra fee; th...

By lakong on December 24th, 2008

First things first... in my last blog entry I recapped the beginning of several hands without discussing my actions. In summary (not sure if order matches the original post):

1) I had 9ts and the flop came J8x with two of my suit. EP raised, I RR and two guys went all-in. I assumed that my flush outs were likely dead, but called given that I was getting over 4.5 on my call so I felt that my straight outs and maybe even my 9 and T made it a close call. I missed my flush and straight outs but the turn was a T. Turns out both of my opponents were drawing to a flush and I won the $1800 pot!

2) I raised from the blind PF with QQ and an early position limper RR. I put him all-in and lost to his KK.

3) I called a river check-raise with JJ which was an overpair to the board and he had been playing 69 and hit his straight. I just couldn't put him on that hand given that he called my RR PF and called a substantial flop raise with a gut-shot. This was a bad call by mean in hindsight.

4) I called a huge flop push RR with bottom two on a two to a flush board with an A. I felt my read that he was on a draw was spot on and I was right. He hit his flush on the river and I lost a $1600 pot. My call was not the best because I didn't factor in that he probably had top pair with the flush draw which actually made him a slight favorite. I didn't have much in the pot at this point so there really wasn't any reason to flip for some many chips at that point.

I went back to the Hustler on Monday night to play the weekly tournament. It's a $190 buy-in with 100 runners. Nothing much to report. I was fairly card dead for the first 3 levels but managed to chip up from the $6k starting stack to $7k without ever playing a pot past the flop.

On the fourth level I raised from early position with KQ and had one caller from MP. The flop came Qxx all clubs. I had no club. I raised, my opponent pushed which was a big overbet. I decided that he had to have the Ac. He would have RR with AQ PF and usually doesn't pushes with the flush unless it's a low one. Perhaps he pushes with trips here. If I fold I'm down to 20BB and will be at 10-15 soon when the blinds go back up. In a deeper/slower tournament I probably fold but I felt that I needed to gamble and this opponent was very capable of pushing with one club. Turns out that I was right about his gamble, but wrong about this situation. Turns out that he called my 700 PF raise (blinds were 100/200/50) with K2s and had made his flush!

I next played a $5/5 cash game. On the second hand I hit a set on the turn and just called a EP raise with two players behind me. The board was extremely non-coordinated so I was too worried about anyone drawing out on me. One opponent hit a gut shot on the river and I lost $200. He was on my case for letting him get there. Very annoying. Should I have RR on the turn? I guess it's one option, but I liked the call given that someone behind me could RR, I wanted more in the pot and I just didn't feel anyone was very strong at that point.

I then decided not to reload and play short-stacked with about $200. Nothing much happened for the next hour until...

I'm in LP and there's a $10 straddle, an EP raiser to $20 and 3 callers and I look down at JJ. I push. The straddle guy thinks for a while and calls as does one other player. The 2nd player shows A9 and he just hits his 9. The straddle guy proclaims that he hit a runner-runner straight and turns over 56o. So he calls my $200 EP raise with 56o. I was proud of myself for remaining calm when he tells the table that he just makes calls like that against certain types of players. I ask him what kind of players are that, but he really doesn't answer so I just walk away and try to forgot about it.

Fun night. Got to love poker!

By lakong on December 24th, 2008

First things first... in my last blog entry I recapped the beginning of several hands without discussing my actions. In summary (not sure if order matches the original post): 1) I had 9ts and the flop came J8x with two of my suit. EP raised, I RR and two guys went all-in. I assumed that my flu...

By lakong on July 4th, 2009

Played at the Hustler again last night. As always, I started in the nightly tournament which was a $100 buy-in event. They started us with 10k in chips at 25/50 blinds so we had a lot of play. Couldn't get anything going and lost a major pot when I went all-in with 9k in chips at 300-600 blinds with AJ and got beat by a call from KQ. I was now really short and busted a few hands later.

As always, I headed over to the $300-500 5/5 cash game. A friend was seated at one of the 3 tables and I was given a seat across from him. I bought in for $500 and quickly got involved with TT. I raised to $25 from MP, had two callers to my left and one of the blinds. The flop comes 9TQr. I raised to $70. I suppose I could have slowplayed it, but I didn't want to give a free card on this board. Everyone folded.

I won a few more hands after that to bring my stack up to $800ish. Then things really slowed down. I went orbit after orbit looking at nothing but K3 type hands. When I did hit a hand I would almost always get rivered -- e..g, medium flush on turn, bet the pot, one caller, 4 card flush on river, lose to A. Or I have QQ, flop AK, have to fold to re-raise. Or A9, 99 on board, but four flush by river, etc. In my last two sessions I got a little too bored or pissed and tried to press with borderline hands that put me in the position of making difficult decisions on later streets. This time I just tried to sit back and play my game. I brought my headphones and I really think that it helped pass the time and get into a better rhythm.

During my down times I really focused on getting a read on the table. There were three players who I felt I could read very well and I tried to play pots with them. Especially when I was in position. My stack never went much below the starting $500. My key hand happened when I raised from MP to $20 with 88 and was RR from the button to $80. I called for set-value and the flop came a beautiful 58J. I checked, he bet $200, I pushed and doubled up against his KK.

It was now approaching 1am, and I really wanted to play tennis early on Sat am, but I was feeling good and my friend was staying so I played on. A few hands later I pick up JJ in the BB. There are 5 limpers to me and I make it $45. The KK player makes the call. The flop comes Axx with two spades. I lead for $75 and he mini-raises. I call. This is one of the players who I felt I had a good read on. The turn pairs the A. I decide to check and he makes it $150. My plan when I checked was to check-call if he bet (I could have led out, but would have been forced to fold to a RR). I spent some time on the call but picked up some weakness. I had noticed a few hands where he was strong, and it was very obvious to me that there was a difference in his manner here. His bet was also very weak. This guy tended to raise much more with big hands. I called. Blank on the river. It goes check-check and he mucked when I showed.

I won a few pots with raises and continuation bets. Then this hand happens. I'm UTG+1 and there's a $10 straddle to my right. I have only T7h, but decide to limp. Not great, but I was just stacking my chips from a nice pot, so decided to play. There's a bunch of limpers and the straddler makes it $60 more. Normally I throw this hand away without hesitation, but this guy had lost some brutal hands and I feel he is steaming a bit. I also felt that he played very straightforward, respected my game (didn't think I would do anything out of line) and of course I had position. My biggest gamble was that it would be only the two of us. Luckily everyone folded. The flop comes Axx with two hearts. Pretty good flop for me. He makes it $100 and I call. A T hits on the turn. He now bets $100 again. It felt to me that he was not crazy about his hand and this was a blocking bet. He might have had a weak A, but it felt more like air or a pocket pair. It might have been as good as JJ-KK, but no way to be sure. What I did know was that I had outs, second pair and an opponent who was uncomfortable and respected my bets so I raised $150 more (he had about $350 left). He folded and asked if I had the A. Of course I told him yes.

I won a few more pots after that, some with good hands, some using my position. By 2:30am and with 1600 in chips behind I decided it was time to get some sleep.

By lakong on July 4th, 2009

Played at the Hustler again last night. As always, I started in the nightly tournament which was a $100 buy-in event. They started us with 10k in chips at 25/50 blinds so we had a lot of play. Couldn't get anything going and lost a major pot when I went all-in with 9k in chips at 300-600 blinds w...