Today, I didn’t end up playing in the satellite at the Venetian. Instead, I did 3 separate sessions in cash games at the Stratosphere. I am really working hard on my cash game skills and hopefully it benefits me in the end. I have decided to write about the sessions in one blog entry instead of separating the entries for convenience.
Session 1:
I woke up at a comfortable 12 PM or so and had a nice relaxing morning. I went to visit Sean at the Sahara and we sat by the pool for an hour or so before we headed over the stratosphere. We sat down and things immediately started to blow up in my face. In the first orbit I was involved in, there were a bunch of limpers and one guy raised to $17. We had just sat down and I had already seen him put in 2 giant raises PF so I assumed him for a super aggressive player. I found KK in the SB and made it $45. It folded back to him and he pushed all in (again) and I instacalled and he showed me AA. I didn’t suck out and was out my first $200 pretty quickly (that’s 2-1 AA-KK for me. . .Ive had AA 2 times and KK one time). However, no matter what or who I am playing against, I am stacking off with KK here 100% of the time, no questions. If he has AA, I pay him. I bought for $200 more and waited a little.
I found 33 and raised to $10 in EP and got 2 callers. The flop came Q72 and I c-bet $15 and got called in one spot. The turn came a T and I checked and he bet out $30 and I folded. I did a similar thing with ATcc a little later but wasn’t able to win the pot either and I was down to $140. After this, I rebought for $60 more to get to $200 and I was in for $460 total.
I waited a little longer and I finally was able to pick up a big hand in KK in EP. I made it $10 and got 2 callers. The flop came down QT8 and I bet out $15. The guy behind me called and the guy behind him reraised to $50. It got to me and I really really thought he just had a bare Q with like AQ or KQ. I had played with him before and knew he didn’t play well but didn’t think a 2 pair hand was in his PF range and I didn’t think he would show up with a set here, however I wasn’t 100% positive. Because of this, I raised it to $115 with the intention of folding if he instapushed or something like that (I still really thought I had the best hand). He, oddly, decided just to call because he only had like $60 or so back and the turn came a 2. I only had $80 or so back so I pushed that in on a blank turn and he called (for less with his $60). I showed KK and he showed Q9, for top pair (my read was right for once!). The river came a J, filling his gutshot straight draw and knocking me down to my last $21 in chips. That was a pretty bad beat because if I win, I am pretty much back to even. Instead, I didn’t have enough to rebuy back in so I had to take a little break to get some more money and take a cooler (I actually had to go get money to register for the tournament tomorrow some time tonight to avoid the lines tomorrow anyways). I had a couple of sick hands this session and was down $439 for just the first 2 hours of the session.
Session 2:
I came back motivated to make up my money that I lost. In the first orbit or so, I raised to $10 with AJo in EP and got one caller. The flop came 976 and I bet out $15 and got called. The turn came off an 8 and I checked and he bet out and I folded and I was down to $75. A couple hands later I was in the BB with a bunch of limpers and found A5o. The flop came A52 with 2 diamonds and I checked, one person bet $12 and I raised to $40 to squeeze the draws out but hopefully get called by an ace by a bad player. Unluckily, no one wanted to play and I took down the pot. I then proceeded to sit and fold for the next hour and a half or so, just patiently waiting for my spot.
I finally picked up 88 and made it $10 and got one caller. The flop came down 832 and I led out for $15 and the caller folded (bummer I hit a flop and cant get action). Then, there were a bunch of limpers and I was in the hijack and found KTdd. I made it $15 and got one caller on the button. The flop came down AdQdJh for an unreal flop. I figured he had to have some of that flop if he is flatting behind me (with my tight image) so I bet out $25 and he folded. A couple hands later I picked up AJo in MP and made it $10 and got one caller. The flop came AKJ and I bet out $15 and he called. The turn came a 9 and I bet out $25 and he folded (I really wish I could have gotten a donk to give me action on one of these 3 hands but I just didn’t). That was pretty much the end of the session and I finished cashing out with $236, up $36 for the session.
Session 3:
The table in this session was absolutely crazy. There were so many big pots with just terrible hands being played and I knew that I could get paid if I just stuck to my plan. I started off pretty tightly and eventually opened to $17 on a straddle with 66. I got reraised to $47 and I decided to fold instead of trying to spike my set. A little later, I made it $10 with AT and got called in 2 spots. The flop came TQ8 and I c-bet $15 and got called in both places. The turn came 7 and it checked around and the river came a K and one guy bet out and the other guy called so I folded and one guy showed AK and the other a Q so my hand was never any good. I then tried a raise to $15 with a bunch of limpers with AJo and got called in several places and folded to a bet on the flop. I was down to $135 or so and added another $100 so I was in for $300 total.
I was down to $235 or so when there were 2 limpers in front of me and I made it $15 with 99. The flop came down Jh9x6h for a set for me but a very draw heavy board. One guy checked, the other bet $30 and I raised to $100. He ended up folding. I kind of wish I would have gotten some action with this hand because the guy was a total donk but there are so many draws on the board I just was kind of glad to take it down. I was up to $290 after this hand and almost even. I then found 77 and made it $10 and got called in 5 positions. The flop came T62 and the first guy went all in for $19 total. It folded to me and I called and another guy called too. The board filled out 5Q and me and the other guy checked it down and my 77 was good and I was up to $350 or so.
I then raised it to $10 UTG with KQss and got 2 callers. The flop came KT7 and I bet out $15. One guy called and the turn came a T. I checked and he bet $15 and I called. The river came a 2 and I checked he bet $20 and I called and he showed T9 for turned trips (every time right). I was down to $300 and didn’t really pick up much for the last 45 minutes or so. I tried to raise some limpers with A9dd but got called by both and had to fold to a bet on the flop. I ended up cashing out for $277, down $23 for this mini-session.
Overall on the day, I finished -$426. Despite this large loss, I feel much more confident in my cash game play. $200 of my losses came on a gross cooler and $200 I got some donk to try to pay me off with top pair when it was clearly no good. I wasn’t able to win any really big pots but I know that if I keep playing this way, I will eventually start to get paid off when I make my big hands (I pretty much did once but got rivered—if I win that pot I am pretty much even for the day). I did make 4 big hands on the flop (2 sets, a straight, and 2 pair) but wasn’t able to get any action. From watching, a lot of the time people will just donk chips to you so I just have to wait for those hands and get someone to pay me. I will be playing in the 2009 Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza II: Event #1 tomorrow. I bought in tonight and the tournament starts at noon tomorrow. Im pretty excited for the sick structure and everything so hopefully I get off on the right foot in my deepstack tournaments.
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