Cash Game: MGM Grand March 14th 9:45 PM-3:45 AM

In the movie Rounders, Mike McDermott says that poker players try to win “one big bet an hour” in cash games. That would be nice, but in this cash game I proved that all you really have to do is win one big bet every 6 hours. Earlier on, I picked up a few smaller pots both with JJ. The first I flopped a set, checked the flop, and raised a bet on the turn and he folded. The second I made the 2nd nut flush on a board of AQT65 and called down a guy with the 8 high. However, these pots were only enough to keep my head above the water.

After the 2nd win, I literally folded every hand for about 4 hours. This was the worst streak of cards anyone can imagine. In those 4 hours, I probably picked up 10 hands that I could even CONSIDER playing but I mean like k10o UTG is probably a bad play. I mean, I didn’t even pick up any suited connectors or hardly even any suited card or anything (83o 94o k3o q5o etc etc). I think I raised one pot (with KK) and took the blinds and called 2 raises with small pairs and folded the flop. Anyways, with me playing so few flops, my stack dropped from 230 to around 190.

Finally, the streak was able to be dispelled in a semi-lucky way nevertheless. This tighter, young good player raised to $12 under the gun and got called in 2 spots I was on the button and I looked down at 88. I figured that the loose players could have any 2 cards and didn’t have a good hand and that if I raised, the tight player UTG would make me for a really big hand since I was playing so tight. I made it $40 to go and the kid in the SB who I had been talking to a lot and was a nice kid moved all in for $76. He was playing pretty tight and I thought that I was in big trouble. I had to call and he somehow flipped over 66 and I was a dominating favorite. My hand held and I was up to $260 or so.

About one orbit later, the big pot that I had been waiting for finally happened. The guy directly on my right had been opening a lot of hands and playing pretty loose but I think that, despite this, he was a pretty decent player as he hadn’t played a big pot without a big hand. He raised it to $12 and I looked down at KQo. Normally I would just fold here but I think that Im ahead of his range a good percentage of the time so I called. The flop came KK9 with 2 clubs and he lead out for $25. I thought about just flat calling but I thought that he might know that I was capable of making a play so I went with a raise to $60. He ended up calling and I put him probably after him just flatting. The turn came a terrible card as the 8c peeled off and he checked to me. I decided to check behind because both for pot control and because I thought that he might have a flush. The river card came an excellent Q of clubs, filling me up and putting 4 clubs on the board. The other guy lead out for $100 and I hollywooded for a little before I decided to push all in for $215. He thought about it and called (with about a stack the exact same as me) and showed me AJ of clubs which means I got lucky on the river to win a giant pot. After this I was at about $520.

It was almost time for me to leave and on my last orbit, I played one more decent sized pot. A kid who was raising a lot and showing less than premium hands made it $8 UTG I called with KJdd and 4-5 other people called. The flop came QdJx4d giving me a pair and a flush draw. It checked to me and I bet out $22. The UTG kid check raised me to $60. He had about $75 or so behind and I decided that if I moved in, he would probably fold a good % of his hands but even if I got called, I had plenty of outs. I moved all in and he decided to fold despite the tremendous pot odds. This hand got me up to $621 and I left a couple hands later, up $421 for my winningest session thus far.