Saturday, July 08, 2006

Two NLHE Cash Game Hands

I played at the new Agrosy poker room last night and it has become my favorite in town. The staff is super friendly and it has private bathrooms! No running across the casino floor like at Harrah's.

Hand #1:
About 5 hours into my session I look down at black kings and raise to $20 (2/5 blinds) from UTG. The player two to my left raises to $60 and everybody else folds. I have $430 in my stack and villan has me covered. I immediately put him on AA or QQ with a slim chance of AKs or JJ. He is a good, tight, quit player and I'm sure his perception of me is the same, so for him to re-raise my UTG raise shows massive strength. This is also the first pre-flop re-raise that I've seen him make in 5 hours. So, what to do? I consider jamming, but he will likely call with AA only. I seriously consider folding. Yes, seriously. I'm out of position and he looks calm and confident. Yuck! However, I decide to call and see what the flop brings.

FLOP: Th-9h-3c, I check and villan bets $50 into the $127 pot. This seems a little smallish for AA (I would have bet $80 to $100 with AA there) so I call.

TURN: 4c, check-check

RIVER: 8s, I throw out a $40 blocker and he calls with Ah-As. I table my cowboys and everyone is astounded that I didn't lose more. I was actually upset that I called preflop given my read.

Hand #2
It's important to note that if I would have gone busto on the above, I would have gone home for the night and not played this hand just one orbit later.

I open with red 9's for $20 and get two callers, one of which is the donator directly to my left who has been very lucky thus far. FLOP: Qc-9c-6h, SB checks and I bet $40. The donator reaches for a bunch of chips and says, "Seventy-five more." SB mucks and I move all-in for about $270, puting him on something like KQ or AQ. He quickly calls and shows.......black kings. TURN: Js, which gives him some more outs, but the river is a blank and I double up! Now it's time to go home.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Congrats to Rizen!

Congrats to Rizen, aka Eric Lynch for his 3rd place finish in WSOP event #3, Pot Limit Holdem, and a $100K payday. This follows up his 1st place finish in the Stars Million Guaranteed a month ago along with several other wins and cashes in smaller tourneys. He's a force and I'm sure you'll be seeing and hearing much more of him. I hope to see him at Performify's awesome home game so I can congratulate him in person.