OneGreenChip

One will note that some time has elapsed between the trip and the report. Consequently, most of the details (valuable as they may be) have been lost due to my travels in Arkham Asylum. Seriously, the new Batman is a fucking ridiculously good game. The gameplay is good to great, the cutscenes are phenomenal, and the artwork is astonishing. We'll have to see whether it has replay value.

Wait, I'm supposed to be talking about poker. Back to that. Arrived at the casino with 3 buyins at 9pm. Waitlist was amazingly short - 8 people. And the Holy Grail of table selection fell upon me: THEY OPENED A NEW TABLE AND CALLED MY NAME.

I wonder if anybody realizes how valuable this is in a live setting? Nominally, it's ridiculous -- brand new donks buy in, and the more experienced players can eat up their money, and be relatively deepstacked by the time other good players get to the table. Getting in at the ground floor does the most for us in terms of the natural evolution of table dynamics, as retards don't survive long. So you can imagine that I was pretty psyched, and it showed.

I established myself as the verbal table captain ASAP, after identifying each players with tight/loose vs strong/weak, and mentally assessing the best way to attack these foes in position and out of position. And wow was I licking my chops when seeing some donkeys win 45bb pots with 95o and J6o in the early going.

Reality bit in when I realized that I was going on fucking TILT. WHY??!!

1) Rookie fucking players couldn't move the game along. They had to be constantly told that it was their turn, that no, they couldn't raise, that a straight loses to a flush, etc. One can only gently prompt the biggest fish even twice before the table catches on that you're a shark, so after a few smiling comments I had to stew in my own impatience.

2) Incompetent dealers that were holding up the game by regaling stories and teasing players instead of DEALING CARDS. It didn't help that this brand-new table lacked an automatic shuffler, slowing the pace down even more

3) I moved positions to sit behind the only big stack at the table (300bb), and he left 45 minutes later, leaving me with 125bb amongst 90-50bb stacks.

4) I couldn't catch a hand, which was the ONLY WAY I was going to get paid against a table of mostly loose-passive rookies that couldn't understand why their middle two pair was no good on a four flushed board.

So after 2.5 hours at this table (OMG AS SOON AS I MAKE TOP PAIR I'M GONNA BUST A FOOL!! damn, 72o again?!!), I busted over to a new spot with a competent dealer, automatic shuffler, deep stacks, and better players. ahhhh.

Sitting in the 1 seat (to the dealer's left), I resolve to move as quickly as possible, as I can't observe opponents! Naturally, I move behind a 500bb stack ASAP, and proceed to see an Asian LAG sit in my seat and THREE TIMES cold call a PF 3bet with AXs, get it all in on the flop vs a 3bettor, catch his flush, and run his $100 stack up to $800 in 45minutes. Nearly shit myself with the "omg i would have had those cards!" thought, but then I realized that I would NEVER have played them like that.

No real pots. Pretty much took down the few pots that I raised and fired Cbets with, and the combination of blinds + the times that I missed kept me floating at 125-150bbs for most of the night. Combination of the (incorrect) looseness of the 4 deep stacks at the table and cold decks kept me mostly in line.

However, by 2am, the usual insane limpfests had started. Compounding the situation was the New Guy at the table, who had won $2700 at 2/5nl earlier and was now open raising to $20 and 3betting to $40 with air at our table.

So after folding my evening away, I was sitting on a 200bb stack and find TdTc UTG. Balla. UTG (a math teacher TAG, decent player) with 400bb opens to $7, and I reraise to $35.

LatinoLAG calls in LP (100bb), New Guy calls in SB (400bb stack), UTG calls (400bb stack). With a pot of $140, we see a flop of 742r. Not a bad flop. In fact, I'd definitely be committed if I were in a HU pot, as this flop is the best possible flop I could hit, lacking a T. Factors for post-flop play

- SPR (excluding the LatinoLAG) is 2.6, which is perfect for an overpair (i have ~$370 behind).
- LatinoLag has $160 left. Obviously, if the LL gets all in with no other callers, I'm in there with him.
- New Guy (~$700) is ridiculously wide here. He just wants to play huge pots. Any suited, any pair, any broadway is good enough for him to cold call my 3bet. I CRUSH his range.
- UTG (~$760) is frustrated, and wants to catch New Guy and Latino Lag. He's a competent player, and understands the value of position. I expect him to 4bet QQ+ and maybe AK when he's OOP vs other deepstacks, so when he flats here I'm only really worried about JJ.

So really, what I want is to get the money in the pot as quickly as possible, as there isn't really a turn/river card that I want to see with this vulnerable overpair. Obviously, I would be treading much more carefully vs TAG-type players, but I felt that the ranges of the players I was involved with were WAYYYYY behind me.

So I fire $75 into the $140 pot. This bet leaves me (assuming 1 caller) with just a PSB behind, yet I'll have the option to fold if I get RR'd here. (although for the record I don't think I could EVER fold, given how much I had committed to the pot and the others' ranges. Maybe if I bet, got two callers and the last guy shoved over all of us, MAYBE).

LatinoLAG calls, New Guy calls, UTG grumbles and folds. Turn 6d, $365 pot, I have ~$290 remaining. I jam, LatinoLAG calls, New Guy folds, he shows A7o, river K, both folded players flip AKo, I drag monster pot (~$600). Now I'm trying to drum up a situation that I could have folded on, but OPs on a raggedy board when I've 3bet and gotten 3 callers? Dicey. Especially OOP.

That was pretty much it. Table broke shortly after and got filled up by fresh players, who started chatting me up and nearly licking their lips. Realizing my best was almost behind me (I was still playing my B game but felt imminent doom), I left with a $400 profit and drove back to Dallas.