Saturday, August 22, 2009
Winstar Trip Report: 082109
Shit was hot.
Things That Went Well
The Mental Game: Relaxed, excited, and happy. The realization that I was rock solid came in the following hand:
I open Js9s in UTG+3 (with a $400 stack) to $10, and get two callers downhill. The BB checks to me on a Jc9s8c flop, I fire out $25. Folds back to the BB, a loose passive older player with a $200 stack (CALL!!), and the others fold. After weighting his considerable calling range PF to draws and weak J-hands based on the flop action, we see a turn.
6d. Not too bad.
He checks, I fire for $75 and he thinks and calls again. River 7s. He looks at me wide-eyed, and says, "I check...you can bet if you want," and before the second phrase is out of his mouth, I'm checking my top two back to him and getting shown KdTd. He rakes in the ~$225 pot, getting some snarky comments from the peanut gallery about 'pot odds', to which he stalks off for a smoke break.
As he leaves, I smile and say to them, "That's fine. I was ahead the whole way. I WANT him to play exactly like that," and I mean it. A slight flinch, a ding to the scarlet towers, but back on the balance beam straightaways. This is when I felt invincible.
Another note came from a TAGfish-type who liked to berate people and show off his knowledge (poor as it was). In a straddled, bloated pot, I called his C-bet on a T72r board with ATs in position, caught an A on the turn, and shoved over his turn lead. I put my head down as he started going over his thought process out loud, ending with him folding his JJ face up (getting 4:1 pot odds on my last $70, lol).
As he'd done before, he started to berate, telling me that I needed to work on my handreading if I was going to be calling his bets on the flop when he OBVIOUSLY HAD AN OVERPAIR. Unfortunately, I told him that I had his chips, he didn't know my holdings, and berating people lacked class. Then I snidely said his thought processes were wrong, but he still needed to practice them until he wasn't saying everything out loud like a sixth-grader doing his multiplication tables.
This didn't go over well.
I had to make sure that I forgave the guy before I lost my mental balance again. This didn't involve kissing his ass or shaking his hand, but understanding where he was coming from, and chastising myself internally for getting drawn into his tilty little world. By buying into his "i'm right" mindset, I ended up making a withdrawal from this man's Personal Checking Account of Tilt. We don't need investments like this.
After sending him back what was rightfully his (unbeknownst to him), I was free to focus on the whole table and not on a personal nemesis. Cue the end of the "Fuck That Guy" story.
Technical Stuff
I adjusted well. Didn't get involved in the everlasting family limpfests that happen late-night. Kept my image squeaky clean with zigs. ONLY ZIGS. Once a few of the better, more observant players saw me make +EV plays and drag pots, only then did I start to zag. Manipulating my image (and playing directly to the left of the aforementioned loudmouth that BROADCAST my image to the table) let me pick up some pots without the benefit of premium holdings...because really, we can wait all day for those.
My experiments in limpfests OOP indicate that players just won't fucking fold to Cbets late night; they start to chase. So I've start checkraising the everloving fuck out of the loose-passive ones, who aren't likely to come back over the top with their draws and TPWK-type hands. This resulted in some good profit, but we also have to realize that I ran into the optimal part of their range, and that my player-type assessment had to be spot on. So it's both luck- and strong-mental-game-dependent.
I also started to abuse players' bluffs. Case in point:
I check my option in the BB with Qc9c, creating a 5-way pot. Flop comes Qs3c5s. I lead for $10, and get a call from the loose passive older player, others fold. Turn comes 8h. I lead against for $25 into the $30 pot, and he calls. River hits with an Ah.
Huh. All draws missed. And I have him (based on prior play, he'll raise to protect his Qx / two pair / sets) again on a missed draw. So I check. And he fires $50 out.
Damn. Cold feet. I tell him out loud, "The only hand I'm afraid of has the Ac," and call. And he shows Tc6c, and the entire table becomes a little more afraid of me. And my avalanche gains strength, and my footsteps rain terror, and my hands rake chips, until it's time to change tables again, now with a $1k stack.
Quitting Well
My last seat, 5:30am. Got here at 9pm. I'm sorta tired, but high on octane. This last table has bubbly people with HUGE stacks. Directly to my left, a $350 stack, then a $1.5k stack, then a $6k stack. AT 1/2 NL. WTF. Two 100bb stacks finish off the table at my right, and I take my spot, knowing that it will be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to establish the loose-aggressive image necessary to succeed with super-deep stacks, out of position and only at 75% efficiency.
Fortune smiles on me. I flop a flush and liquidate one of the 100bb stacks who blearily gets it all in on a mono board with the NFD. Blammo. The other 100bb stack loses 25bb in a confrontation with the Big Stack, then 4bets all in PF, HU with me.
She's tired, loose, and Asian (sorry baby). I call with AhJh for 80bb, and run out a KJJAT board to crush her QQ. And that's it. I'm done. That's a fine call for 40bb, but NOT 100bb, as my 'read' is over only 20 minutes and 5 pots, just one which I'm involved in. I've only got one foot on the balance beam, but I got lucky...time to go.
Gas to get to Winstar: $10
Money used to bankroll: $600
Taking people's money: cool
Crushing people's souls: PRICELESS
Things That Went Well
The Mental Game: Relaxed, excited, and happy. The realization that I was rock solid came in the following hand:
I open Js9s in UTG+3 (with a $400 stack) to $10, and get two callers downhill. The BB checks to me on a Jc9s8c flop, I fire out $25. Folds back to the BB, a loose passive older player with a $200 stack (CALL!!), and the others fold. After weighting his considerable calling range PF to draws and weak J-hands based on the flop action, we see a turn.
6d. Not too bad.
He checks, I fire for $75 and he thinks and calls again. River 7s. He looks at me wide-eyed, and says, "I check...you can bet if you want," and before the second phrase is out of his mouth, I'm checking my top two back to him and getting shown KdTd. He rakes in the ~$225 pot, getting some snarky comments from the peanut gallery about 'pot odds', to which he stalks off for a smoke break.
As he leaves, I smile and say to them, "That's fine. I was ahead the whole way. I WANT him to play exactly like that," and I mean it. A slight flinch, a ding to the scarlet towers, but back on the balance beam straightaways. This is when I felt invincible.
Another note came from a TAGfish-type who liked to berate people and show off his knowledge (poor as it was). In a straddled, bloated pot, I called his C-bet on a T72r board with ATs in position, caught an A on the turn, and shoved over his turn lead. I put my head down as he started going over his thought process out loud, ending with him folding his JJ face up (getting 4:1 pot odds on my last $70, lol).
As he'd done before, he started to berate, telling me that I needed to work on my handreading if I was going to be calling his bets on the flop when he OBVIOUSLY HAD AN OVERPAIR. Unfortunately, I told him that I had his chips, he didn't know my holdings, and berating people lacked class. Then I snidely said his thought processes were wrong, but he still needed to practice them until he wasn't saying everything out loud like a sixth-grader doing his multiplication tables.
This didn't go over well.
I had to make sure that I forgave the guy before I lost my mental balance again. This didn't involve kissing his ass or shaking his hand, but understanding where he was coming from, and chastising myself internally for getting drawn into his tilty little world. By buying into his "i'm right" mindset, I ended up making a withdrawal from this man's Personal Checking Account of Tilt. We don't need investments like this.
After sending him back what was rightfully his (unbeknownst to him), I was free to focus on the whole table and not on a personal nemesis. Cue the end of the "Fuck That Guy" story.
Technical Stuff
I adjusted well. Didn't get involved in the everlasting family limpfests that happen late-night. Kept my image squeaky clean with zigs. ONLY ZIGS. Once a few of the better, more observant players saw me make +EV plays and drag pots, only then did I start to zag. Manipulating my image (and playing directly to the left of the aforementioned loudmouth that BROADCAST my image to the table) let me pick up some pots without the benefit of premium holdings...because really, we can wait all day for those.
My experiments in limpfests OOP indicate that players just won't fucking fold to Cbets late night; they start to chase. So I've start checkraising the everloving fuck out of the loose-passive ones, who aren't likely to come back over the top with their draws and TPWK-type hands. This resulted in some good profit, but we also have to realize that I ran into the optimal part of their range, and that my player-type assessment had to be spot on. So it's both luck- and strong-mental-game-dependent.
I also started to abuse players' bluffs. Case in point:
I check my option in the BB with Qc9c, creating a 5-way pot. Flop comes Qs3c5s. I lead for $10, and get a call from the loose passive older player, others fold. Turn comes 8h. I lead against for $25 into the $30 pot, and he calls. River hits with an Ah.
Huh. All draws missed. And I have him (based on prior play, he'll raise to protect his Qx / two pair / sets) again on a missed draw. So I check. And he fires $50 out.
Damn. Cold feet. I tell him out loud, "The only hand I'm afraid of has the Ac," and call. And he shows Tc6c, and the entire table becomes a little more afraid of me. And my avalanche gains strength, and my footsteps rain terror, and my hands rake chips, until it's time to change tables again, now with a $1k stack.
Quitting Well
My last seat, 5:30am. Got here at 9pm. I'm sorta tired, but high on octane. This last table has bubbly people with HUGE stacks. Directly to my left, a $350 stack, then a $1.5k stack, then a $6k stack. AT 1/2 NL. WTF. Two 100bb stacks finish off the table at my right, and I take my spot, knowing that it will be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to establish the loose-aggressive image necessary to succeed with super-deep stacks, out of position and only at 75% efficiency.
Fortune smiles on me. I flop a flush and liquidate one of the 100bb stacks who blearily gets it all in on a mono board with the NFD. Blammo. The other 100bb stack loses 25bb in a confrontation with the Big Stack, then 4bets all in PF, HU with me.
She's tired, loose, and Asian (sorry baby). I call with AhJh for 80bb, and run out a KJJAT board to crush her QQ. And that's it. I'm done. That's a fine call for 40bb, but NOT 100bb, as my 'read' is over only 20 minutes and 5 pots, just one which I'm involved in. I've only got one foot on the balance beam, but I got lucky...time to go.
Gas to get to Winstar: $10
Money used to bankroll: $600
Taking people's money: cool
Crushing people's souls: PRICELESS
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