Cash Game: Golden Nugget March 13th 11 PM-3 AM

This was an absolutely vomit inducing session that ended in my first net loss in a cash game. It broke my streak of 3 consecutive winning sessions which I will be keeping track of from now on. I actually did play a ton of interesting hands but I forgot to bring my notebook so there are several that I do not specifically remember, but will do my best to include them.

I hovered around my $200 for the first hour or so and then my first significant pot happened. I was in the bb with about 5 limpers and I picked up a3o. The flop came a97 all hearts and it was checked around. The turn came a 3 giving me 2 pair and the sb, a spazy player who was pretty terrible, lead out for a massive overbet of $25. I called and the river blanked. He immediately bet out $50 and I called instantly and he showed me 73 for a lower 2 pair and I was up to around $280. I was able to get lucky and hit a few flops to get up to $330 or so and then a very very interesting hand came up.

There was a live straddle on and the table was generally playing loose. I picked up a5cc utg +1 and limp and pretty much everyone else after me limps so there is already about $30 in the pot. The flop comes Jc8h5h and its checked to me. I lead out for $22 with bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw and get called in 3 places all behind me, which was not really my plan. The turn comes the 10c giving me a flush draw with my pair and I check. The guy behind me moves all in for $78, the guy behind him moves all in for $75, and the button thinks for about 3 minutes before he finally decides to call too (he has $150 or so back after the call). It gets to me and I think for about 5 minutes before finally deciding that I have to call with SO MUCH MONEY in the pot and hope for a club. The river comes a blank, like an offsuit 6 or something, and I check and the button checks. Amazingly, the button shows J10 and one of the all ins mucks what he said was a flush draw and the other mucked too. I obviously didn’t win and had to muck but it ended up that I would have won the pot with an ace, five, or any club so the call I made was the right one. That pot was around $450 and would have looked nice on my stack, but instead I was back down to $210 or so.

Luckily, the very next pot I got back on the right track. I was UTG and picked up KK and, on a flop of Q44, got back up to $320 or so from a guy with QJ by check calling his bets. The next hour or so was pretty dry but then I played another big pot. I picked up TT in middle position and raised it and got 2 callers. The flop came AT4 and I dont remember the specific action but I think I flatted one of the other guys bets on the flop and both called and then bet $40 on the turn and both called and bet $65 on the river and both time bank folded. I was up to about $460 after this hand and riding high.

However, shortly after this things started to go very very bad thanks to 2 terrible pots. The first happened when some extremely grubby looking character sat at the table. He sat with $100 dollars and it looked to me like he had no idea what he was doing. The first hand he was dealt in, I picked up AxQh. I make it $10 and he calls and one other player calls. The flop comes A84 all hearts, giving me top pair and the 2nd nut flush draw. The first caller checks, I check with the intention of raising, and the grubby guy bets $50. The first player folds and I put the grubby guy all in. He calls and shows me 10h9h for the flopped flush and I miss my draw and lose about $100 in the process.

The second hand was the WORST thing ever and thinking of it makes me want to just puke. It came against the aforementioned spazy player from the a3 hand. He had been playing fast and loose all night but was able to stay in the game thanks to some good luck and I was waiting for the correct opportunity to win a good pot from him. He had about $350 in chips at the time and he raised in early position to $15 and with his previous betting patterns (I had been playing with him for a while) I knew that he probably had AK or a similar hand. I had been looking for a hand to play a pot against him and I found 75hh. I called and one other player called. The flop came 443 giving me a gutshot and hit probably nothing with his hand range. He checked to me and I bet $35, the other caller folded and it got back to him and he called. I am still putting him on AK because he is the type of player who will still be calling with it here but am still thinking I am going to win this pot if no ace or king comes. The turn comes an 8 and he checks and I bet $50. He calls pretty quickly and I am beginning to get worried but I know for a fact that he still doesn’t have a hand because the word slow play is not in this guys dictionary. The river comes a Q and he checks to me. This card kind of worried me but I know that if he has AQ, he leads out with a bet here judging by how he was playing. He checks to me and I bet $65 he thinks about it and decides to call. I flip over my 75hh bluff and he looks at it for about 30 seconds before finally rolling over his A10 which he somehow thought was good. I lost about $160 or so that hand and continued in a downward spiral. I ended my night cashing out $117 so I net lost about $83 which sucks especially because I was up so much. Oh well better luck in the future.