Harrahs Weekly Poker Donkley 1.12.111 Part One
So it was a pretty good week for me in the poker world. Couldn’t get over to the Southern Poker Championship at the Beau soon enough, but I was able to claw out some time on Wedesday to head over to Harrahs for the weekly tournament. Really had that Texas Hold'em poker itch and it was nice to be able to scratch it.
I've had some fu and some modest success keeping my edge playig late night online poker tournaments but there is no substitute for live poker. I was delighted that it turns out they had started up the Wednesday tournament again (last week was the second week) and as usual when there is a tournament on the coast their numbers are down. I mentioned last week I either like it full or around 50. Think I’d like to amend that number to 49 or less.
If they have under 50 they only pay eight instead of ten. That was the case on Wednesday. I came in with a pretty clear intention in my mind. I wanted to win at least $500 and roll that over into a buy-in or two at the Beau. So, with that goal and purpose on my mind I played pretty solid.
Early on I had AK and flopped an A. I ran into a set of Aces (kind of a theme on the week) and paid off the other guy. I built back up. Later with about three tables left I tried to bluff off all my chips. It was the hand before the break, and a young kid, good player to my right, limped. I had only been showing premium hands and I thought he was good enough to lay-down to a bluff. I put in a raise, probably not stiff enough, to clear out the field and he called.
I say not stiff enough, because generally I try to keep my raises uniform, but I think that’s a flaw at the Harrahs weekly. Many players probably aren’t picking up and exploiting what the differences are in the size of my raises. If I had pounded the kid, I think he ditches his hand pre-flop, though he was somewhat “sticky.”
Anyway, we see a flop with Ace high and he checks to me. I think this looks like it hits my preflop raise a lot so I fire. He calls after some deliberation. The turn is a blank. He checks again and I put out a bet which was under half my stack size but close. He takes longer to think but still calls. The river paired the board. There was also a jack on there.
Now, that’s a bad card for me. If his weakness is a small Ace he knows only two Ace hands I have give me the pot Ace King and Ace Queen. Oh, sweet. I don’t like checking here but I feel like he’s calling any bet. I come up with the question, “How much can I bet that you will call?”
I’ve heard people ask that when they are fairly strong. It was less about the question and more about the reaction. He said, “I’ll call anything” and then looks at his chips like what else could he do. I guess had I been prepared for that answer I might have been able to shove to induce a fold. That might have looked strong enough for the kid to put me on a strong hand. As I said, I didn't do that...
To be continued in next post...
I've had some fu and some modest success keeping my edge playig late night online poker tournaments but there is no substitute for live poker. I was delighted that it turns out they had started up the Wednesday tournament again (last week was the second week) and as usual when there is a tournament on the coast their numbers are down. I mentioned last week I either like it full or around 50. Think I’d like to amend that number to 49 or less.
If they have under 50 they only pay eight instead of ten. That was the case on Wednesday. I came in with a pretty clear intention in my mind. I wanted to win at least $500 and roll that over into a buy-in or two at the Beau. So, with that goal and purpose on my mind I played pretty solid.
Early on I had AK and flopped an A. I ran into a set of Aces (kind of a theme on the week) and paid off the other guy. I built back up. Later with about three tables left I tried to bluff off all my chips. It was the hand before the break, and a young kid, good player to my right, limped. I had only been showing premium hands and I thought he was good enough to lay-down to a bluff. I put in a raise, probably not stiff enough, to clear out the field and he called.
I say not stiff enough, because generally I try to keep my raises uniform, but I think that’s a flaw at the Harrahs weekly. Many players probably aren’t picking up and exploiting what the differences are in the size of my raises. If I had pounded the kid, I think he ditches his hand pre-flop, though he was somewhat “sticky.”
Anyway, we see a flop with Ace high and he checks to me. I think this looks like it hits my preflop raise a lot so I fire. He calls after some deliberation. The turn is a blank. He checks again and I put out a bet which was under half my stack size but close. He takes longer to think but still calls. The river paired the board. There was also a jack on there.
Now, that’s a bad card for me. If his weakness is a small Ace he knows only two Ace hands I have give me the pot Ace King and Ace Queen. Oh, sweet. I don’t like checking here but I feel like he’s calling any bet. I come up with the question, “How much can I bet that you will call?”
I’ve heard people ask that when they are fairly strong. It was less about the question and more about the reaction. He said, “I’ll call anything” and then looks at his chips like what else could he do. I guess had I been prepared for that answer I might have been able to shove to induce a fold. That might have looked strong enough for the kid to put me on a strong hand. As I said, I didn't do that...
To be continued in next post...
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