Running Aces Final Stats and Other Interesting Hands

Hello everyone. Just getting ready to leave for Vegas and I thought Id drop some stats and a couple of comments from my time I played at Running Aces.

My total final results are $1912 in winnings over 73 hours of play. This meant an average of $26.19/hour. However, $315 of these winnings were rackback from the $5/hour deal. My actual play resulted in $1597 in winnings over the same 73 hours for a total of $21.88/hour. I had 14 separate sessions. Of those sessions, 9 of them were winning and 5 of them were losing (9-5). I averaged winning $52.36/hour during my 9 winning sessions and losing $33.23/hour during my 5 losing sessions. My biggest winning session was $667 and my biggest losing session was $300. Overall, Id argue that if I continued to make $21.88/hour before rackback at $1-$2 no limit in vegas (or $2-$60 spread at running aces) I would be extremely happy so id say it was a successful 73 hours and 3 weeks of poker.

Despite having 14 sessions, I only actually blog-recapped the last 5 of those sessions. In the first 9 sessions, there were many interesting hands that I did not get to share. I have chose the 6 most interesting hands from those 9 sessions to share with you.

6. FOLDING THE NUTS?
There was a straddle and I found Ah7x MP and made it $14. The SB called and so did the straddle. The flop came QhTh8h giving me the nut flush draw. It checked to me and I took my free card. The turn came a 6h giving me the nut flush. The SB checked, the straddler bet $16, I just flatted to get trappy, and the SB called as well. The river came the Jh, making a 2 way straight flush on a QhTh8h6hJh board. The SB then lead out for $40, the straddler folded, and it got to me. What hands does he legitimately lead out with here? His range is either the Kh, but does he really lead out with the Kh into a bet and a call on an all heart board? The next 2 highest hearts are the Jh and the 7h, both of which make straight flushes. The way he lead out most certainly looked like he had something, so I ended up folding the nut flush with the thought of him having a straight flush. I showed the Ah when I folded but he never showed his cards so I will never know if it was the right play but I can say that he looked extremely frustrated after I showed.

5. BAD LIMP, BAD CALLS, BAD RESULT
There were several limpers to me and I found 85ss on the button. I decided to limp behind. The flop came 643 all clubs and it checked to me, I bet $6 and got 2 callers. The turn came an offsuit 7 giving me the nut straight. It checked to me again and I bet out $10, the first caller made it $30, the 2nd caller folded, and I called. Initially my plan was to snap fold if I got raised because a raiser has a flush almost every time. However, the reraiser was this spewy young kid and I thought he was reraising with enough hands here for me to call and reevalute on the river. The river came a blank and he immediately lead out for $60. For some reason I just had it in my head that he didnt have a flush. I was thinking that he would c/raise the flop with any flush. I ended up calling and he showed me the A5cc for the flopped nut flush that I unnecessarily paid off.

4. I GOT MAX FLOATED
I was in the BB and a guy UTG +1 made it $6. The player on my right (SB) was an extremely terrible player, super spewy, overvaluing hands, not really thinking at all just sliding out chips. At this point he had just lost a big pot and was cursing about how he always takes bad beats so I think he was on tilt. Anyways, he makes it $12 from the SB and I find KK in the BB. I decide to just flat, knowing that this will open up play to UTG +1 but also giving the spewmonster alot of rope to hang himself with. The flop came a nice 873 rainbow and the spewy SB made it $30. I looked and he had about $160 total on the flop so I figured I would be able to get it all in here. I made it $90, the UTG+1 folded, and the guy decided to just INSTAcall. He only had $72 behind and the turn came an A. He snap leadout for $60 and I felt pretty sick. I have no idea where hes at but I know that I hate that ace. I figured he could be tilting and just putting it in extremely wide here so I raised him for his last $12 all in and he called showing the A10o for the no pair/no draw/ace high flop call with $72 behind. I missed the river and lost a pretty large pot on way to a losing session. Maybe he was floating the flop to max any turn in hopes of me folding #genius.

3. 1 ORBIT, 3 BIG POTS, 2 SUCKOUTS, ALL VS 1 PLAYER
In one of my large winning sessions, I played 3 large hands in the span of about 15 minutes vs the same player and I won all three! The first of these hands, I limped from the button with 76o behind everyone else limping. The flop came T76 giving me bottom 2 pair. One of the EP limpers bet out $10 and got 3 callers to me. I decided just to flat because if I raise there are so many scare cards on the turn that if I get called I will not be playing a big pot unless I have the worst hand. The turn did come one of those blanks in a 2. The first bettor bet $40 again and everyone folded to me. It did run through my head that he might have 98 for the straight but still thought it was more likely that he had a strong 10 that he was just trying to get everyone to fold there. The river came the 7, making me a full house and the bettor lead out for $60, I made it $120, and he called and got angry showing the 98 for the no good flopped straight and I won a big pot.

A few hands later (same orbit) I was UTG and found AA. I made it $10 and that same guy made it $38 from MP. The guy on the button then moved all in for $66. I made it $126 and the MP reraiser called all in for his last $110 or so. I had 2 people all in with AA. The MP guy showed 88 (wow) and the button showed 55 (even more wow). The board ran out K3452 rivering me the straight (stealing the pot from the 55) and winning me another big pot.

The very next hand everybody limped to me in the BB and I found JJ. I decided to try to not bloat the pot so I just decided to check. The flop came 964 2 diamonds. I checked, the guy that I beat out of the 2 previous pots bet $10, the guy with 55 from the last hand called, and I raised to $36 and they both called. At this point I figured the original bettor for a strong 9 and the caller for a diamond draw. The turn came a 7 and I thought about just checking to keep the pot small (also because it made straights/2 pairs for connectors and 1-gappers) but figured that if I fired another barrell, the 9 would fold and I would be punishing the diamond draw with a bet. I bet out $40 and they both decided to call again. At this point I had no idea where I was at anymore. The river came another 9, a card that I think crushes me for sure (I thought at least one of them had TP). I checked and they both checked behind. I showed JJ and they guy who I had beaten the 2 previous hands showed 64 for flopped bottom 2 pair that were counterfitted by the board pairing (the other guy had a diamond draw) and I was able to win my 3rd big pot in a short amount of time. I do not know exactly how much I made in this orbit but I can say it was an extremely successful one.

2. HOW TO MISPLAY KK PART I
This is my first of two hands where I illustrate how not to play KK. I do not remember 100% of the details from this hand because I blocked it out of my mind for the most part (played it so terribly) but I will recount it fairly accurately. A player in EP made it $8. I was in the hijack and it was folded to me and I found KK. I made it $22 and the player in the cutoff then 4-bet to $66 (he only had about $95 to start the hand). This is where things get interesting. The kid on the button, who was a bit cally, played pretty straight forward, and overall not a good player (despite what he might think about himself) decided to flat. It folded to me and I made it $126, the guy behind called all in for $95, and the kid on the button called and there was a sidepot to be played. The flop came A44 and I decided to check, figuring the guys calling range pf was either QQ or AK and he played so straightforward, he would never bet QQ here. Additionally, even if he somehow did bet QQ here, I figured it would be likely that the other guy had AK-AQ and I would only be playing for the side pot (and if not the all in guy, the bettor had AK). I checked, he bet $60, I folded (for the reasons stated above) and the button showed QQ while the all in showed JJ. UGHHHHH. I should have just lead out on the flop no matter what and the straightforward guy folds for sure. MAN did I miss out on a big one here. Oh well, learning what to do in spots like this comes from cash game experience.

1. HOW TO MISPLAY KK PART II
Here is another hand were I played KK quite poorly (I cant really blame myself too much here) but the result is a tad different from the first. It was the first 15 minutes of a session and I had already won a big pot that pushed my stack up to $320 or so. There was an LP raiser to $10, the SB flatted, and I found KK again. I made it $36 and after much thought the LP raiser folded. This is where things get strange. The SB flatter then decided to make it $96. We were both relatively deep so I figured I could just flat and see what happens on the flop. The flop came a harmless 955 and he lead out for $60, I made it $120, and he snap bet to $180. After I had made it $120, I only had about $110 behind. It obviously scared me to death that he might have AA but its such a weird spot with him just flatting the raise PF and then all of the sudden backraising my 3-bet. I thought about it for quite some time and he started saying "you know what I have. . .you have to fold. . .you know what I have. . .Ill show you". Immediately I started having flashbacks to my KK preflop fold in Vegas where the guy showed me QQ (read about it here). Ultimately, I decided to to the f*** it call and I put in my last $110. He called, showing me my worst nightmare, the AA. UGHHH. The turn came a blank Q but the river. . .a K!!! I sucked out in a massive pot. The pot ended up being about $670 and was the key to my biggest winning day at Running Aces.

Hope you enjoyed my hands, my next updates will be from Vegas games and they will be coming fast and furious so if you have any input or questions, let me know if I can improve my blog at all!