live donking

This thread is basically my live poker blog and a way to keep track of my live results from this point on. Sorry in advance for this long post - just some background if you're interested.

I've been playing NL holdem at my local casino every so often for a few years now, ever since I turned 19, but I've never kept track of my results very well. When you just play recreationally and solely for shits and giggles, there really isn't a reason to keep track. If you have a set bankroll and you're out trying to become a better player or make some money, it's probably a good idea to keep a record of results.

I've gone to play live donkaments more often than I've gone to play live cash. The tournaments at the River Rock are actually fairly good in a lot of ways. They have small buy-in tournaments almost every day and usually several times a day. These tournaments have (expectedly) awful structures, but they range anywhere from $25 to $45, which makes them a great and cheap way to get some live tournament experience. Once a week, they host a $60 FO that has a surprisingly good structure considering its buy-in, and once or twice a week they have a $100 FO that has a similar structure but a few more chips. The great thing about the $100 FO is that the rake is only $10 ($90+$10) but the structure is still such that the donkament runs around 8 hours from start to finish. Every couple of weeks, there is a $165, $270, or $330 FO (usually on Saturdays).

A couple years ago I went and played one of the $100 FO's with a friend for the first time and won for $4,500. At the time my bankroll was only around $2,000 (I think), so it was a massive increase for my bankroll. I think I ended up putting half of it into my bankroll and leaving the other half out. These days that particular $100 FO gets less participation so that the first prize is only $3000 or so. I also think that they've since flattened the payouts a bit (so that the rest of the people who cash get more $ than they used to).

When they introduced the $60s, it was awesome because it's a very affordable buy-in for almost everyone. While the $100s almost never sell out (these days), the weekly $60 donkament always sells out (and sometimes they even add an extra 1 or 2 tables due to demand). Usually the field starts out between 100 and 125 players, and it takes 6 or 7 hours to play to completion. I've played around 20 to 25 of these tournaments since they introduced them, and I have run exceptionally good. I've final-tabled maybe 7 or 8 times. These tournaments are (as expected) amazingly soft.

I have a lot of time from now until Christmas, so I'd like to play a lot of live poker. There's only so many tournaments that I can reasonably play with my bankroll (which I've made $5k for the time being), so I know that I should probably play a bunch of cash as well. According to some very loose records that I've kept over the last few years, I'm up maybe 5 or so buyins playing live $200NL. I have no idea how many hours I played to achieve that, but I know that my sample size is tiny.

The typical 1/2 NL game at my local casino is usually pretty good during the right times. The typical table:

1-2 players who seem to know what they are doing (or at least play decent TAGG poker)
2-3 old nits who play a fairly wide range preflop but only put in money with top pair
1 girl who only plays pairs and AQ+
1-2 players who will straddle and raise dumb amounts like $6 to inflate pots
1-2 awful spewy players
3 or so players who play a few too many hands, draw with incorrect odds fairly often, call too much, bet too small, etc ...

It seems that the best times to play cash are weekend nights and nights before holidays, especially when the bad beat jackpot is huge. When the bad beat jackpot is huge, weekday nights become very good too. The cardroom at River Rock has 25 tables. When it's very busy and all the tables are full, I'm not sure what fraction of the tables has 1/2 on them. I'll have to check this out next time I'm there.

I'm going to go play on Friday night, I think. I'll probably post a boring trip report on Saturday, and advice, questions, and comments will always be welcome and appreciated.

Wow, 25 tables in the cardroom. River Rock sounds to me like an awesome place :lol: I will travel across country from east to west coast (canada) and play live 1-2 NL cash in some major cities early next year. Currently, i'm fed up with my local casino and want to broaden my horizons and start a new adventure. :P

Is River Rock the best casino in the area? I'm quite possibly moving out west in the new year. It'll be nice to have something local...

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Originally Posted by pokerfan

Wow, 25 tables in the cardroom. River Rock sounds to me like an awesome place :lol: I will travel across country from east to west coast (canada) and play live 1-2 NL cash in some major cities early next year. Currently, i'm fed up with my local casino and want to broaden my horizons and start a new adventure. :P

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That sounds awesome. I would love to do something like that in the future, too, especially because I've never been cross country before. I would also love to fly and play in cardrooms all around the world.

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Originally Posted by d0zer

Is River Rock the best casino in the area? I'm quite possibly moving out west in the new year. It'll be nice to have something local...

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Where will you be living?

There's a few cardrooms you can go to depending on how far away from Vancouver you are. If you're in south Vancouver, then the River Rock is the closest one. If you live downtown, there's a casino called the Edgewater that has 20 tables in their cardroom. I hear the games are really good there and I plan to play there before the end of the month. I've played donkaments at a casino in Coquitlam which is around an hour away from where I live, and then there's another one in Langley which is maybe 1.5 hours away. Actually they maybe is another one (or another one in the making), but I haven't really paid attention lately.

As promised, I went to play cash last Friday at the River Rock. It wasn't as busy there as usual because the casino downdown, Edgewater, had a special tournament hosted by Brad Booth. From what I heard, it was a $550 buy-in and there were two Day 1's. If you busted during the first Day 1, you could apparently rebuy and play on Day 2, too. I've never heard of that before.

Anyway my first day of record-keeping when it comes to live cash has started on a losing note. I both ran bad and played bad on Friday, and I ended up down almost 3 buy-ins ($580 to be exact) over 6 hours. It was really frustrating because I just couldn't seem to find a good table to play at. I played at three different tables and I changed seats a few times within those table changes, too.

Does anyone have a strategy for table changes? If the table you get is bad, do you walk around and watch other tables for a while to figure out where you want to go? Hands go by so slowly at cash game tables that you have to stand and watch a table for while to get any idea of how it's playing. I had no strategy and just told the floor manager that I wanted a table change to anything that became available.

I can't think of too many interesting hands from the night. I flopped two flushes with s00ted cards, both times diamonds. The first time it happened, someone called my push on the turn with a higher flush (we both flopped flushes). The second time it happened, it was with a guy who flopped a straight and somehow folded a blank turn after calling my flop bet. WTF? People can fold flopped straights in that cardroom? Maybe that's a bad sign ...

Here's a hand I had trouble with:

10-handed table and I have ~$240 in my stack.

Raise to $6 in EP and I call behind in MP with suited connectors.

The flop has 8 players and so there is ~$50 in the pot. It checks around and a player to my left bets $15. Someone else in LP calls, and it folds around to me. Both players have position on me and both players have me covered. I called (I call $15 and the pot is $80).

I hit the flush on the turn and bet OOP for $50. In hindsight, I really should have bet much more, $80 perhaps? But anyway, I bet $50, and both players behind me called. So now the pot is ~$250 going into the river.

The river pairs the board, I have around $170 left in my stack and I'm OOP. What is the best play??

Yeah, ask for a table change. If there is no list or a short one, then I often grab some food or whatever then cycle back in.

Winners Tip: Tip the Floor if you frequent a card room. Either a buck or two when seated or when you cash out and certainly when you table change.

They're the final authority on disputes and often control seating. He's the guy you want happy with you. You'll never out-tip the fish when it comes to the dealer. Fish don't tip the floor very often.

As for the hand, what'cha know about your oppoonents? I think your turn bet sizing is at worst a little thin, but it's live poker. Leading out was certainly the way to go. What do your opponents think you have?

I'm inclined to check and call a small bet (depending on reads.) Maybe bet/fold around $60.

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

Here's a hand I had trouble with:

10-handed table and I have ~$240 in my stack.

Raise to $6 in EP and I call behind in MP with suited connectors.

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if you call with SC or other suited cards in MP very often , you just ask for a big trouble after the flop in loose live games. You should either steal(3 bet squeeze/attack limpers) or call a small raise in late position(CO/BT) when implied odds is good. That said, c/c on the river is the way to go IMO.
By the way, you should try to spot those loose aggressive players and gamble with them when its +EV on your part :P

It's a difficultish spot, but it's live poker.

Suck less post-flop and stop playing without reads.

gl Courtie!

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Originally Posted by Fnord

Winners Tip: Tip the Floor if you frequent a card room. Either a buck or two when seated or when you cash out and certainly when you table change.

They're the final authority on disputes and often control seating. He's the guy you want happy with you. You'll never out-tip the fish when it comes to the dealer. Fish don't tip the floor very often.

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Good advice - thanks!

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Originally Posted by Fnord

As for the hand, what'cha know about your oppoonents? I think your turn bet sizing is at worst a little thin, but it's live poker. Leading out was certainly the way to go. What do your opponents think you have?

I'm inclined to check and call a small bet (depending on reads.) Maybe bet/fold around $60.

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I was fairly new to the table and didn't know much about the players yet. This being the case, should I be bet/folding rather than check/calling? Then again, one of the guys behind me was the one who folded his flopped straight (when I flopped my flush) on the turn. He did it after saying, "I don't know how to she plays ..."

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Originally Posted by pokerfan

if you call with SC or other suited cards in MP very often , you just ask for a big trouble after the flop in loose live games. You should either steal(3 bet squeeze/attack limpers) or call a small raise in late position(CO/BT) when implied odds is good. That said, c/c on the river is the way to go IMO.
By the way, you should try to spot those loose aggressive players and gamble with them when its +EV on your part :P

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Are there any hands that you think I should be calling with in MP when I know that there will be 6+ people to the flop if I just call?

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Originally Posted by Fnord

Suck less post-flop and stop playing without reads.

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Haha okay I will try! Thanks for all your advice.

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Originally Posted by zook

gl Courtie!

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Thank you!

I think I'll go play either tonight or tomorrow night. I'm not sure how good the games are on a weeknight. I'll have to see whether going around 5 pm is better than going around 8 pm during the week. Tomorrow River Rock is having their weekly $100 donkament, so maybe it would be a good time to go (and play cash with donkament players that bust).

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

Are there any hands that you think I should be calling with in MP when I know that there will be 6+ people to the flop if I just call?

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If there's some raise in front from unknowns, i probably call with any small-medium pairs and some big suited broadway cards in MP. In late position, you should open up a whole lot and call with lots of sooted stuff when implied odds are good. When you play those sooted low cards, you should be able to let it go after the flop if the action indicates that you are beaten.

Focus less on strategy, more on people.

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

He did it after saying, "I don't know how to she plays ..."

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Translation:
"I haven't played with her before, she might be tight. I might look you up with my straight next time, but probably won't. Will one of you fish call her down so I can see her hand without putting a lot of my chips in the center without the nuts/shortstack/weirdbluff?"

change your avatar to the rear view

imo

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Originally Posted by Fnord

Focus less on strategy, more on people.

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Okay this is my goal for the next time I go.

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Originally Posted by Fnord

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

He did it after saying, "I don't know how to she plays ..."

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Translation:
"I haven't played with her before, she might be tight. I might look you up with my straight next time, but probably won't. Will one of you fish call her down so I can see her hand without putting a lot of my chips in the center without the nuts/shortstack/weirdbluff?"

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Thank you! I was wondering how to interpret his statement.

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Originally Posted by bigspenda73

change your avatar to the rear view

imo

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I don't know where those pics are anymore. I should just ask Xianti, apparently he saved them all :?

i hope you and your boy toy knock em dead!

gl gl

I finally went and played again Monday night, mostly because they had their usual $60 donkament and I like going there and playing push/fold poker. You start with 2500 chips at 25/25 blinds and the blind levels are 20 minutes. I played a few pots in the first couple levels, didn't win any chips, and got short enough that I couldn't really play anymore pots without knowing that I wanted to go all the way. At that point I just waited for a hand to push with once the blinds became 50/100, and then I finally busted after pushing over a MP raise with 77 and not 2-outering his AA. Sounds like fun, I know ;)

There was one hand where I raised AJo in EP and got 6 calls. The flop came Axx - how should I proceed here? I bet/folded. Next time I'll fold it preflop. Title says that I suck post flop but I suck preflop too :(

During the second level I got down to 1400 chips (blinds 25/50) and some guy in MP opened to 250. He'd been playing pots but I hadn't seen a show down with him yet and this is the first time I'd seen him raise. I looked at my cards and saw pocket eights, sighed, and folded. Easy fold right? I don't see any other way to play it.

Okay no more donkament hands. After I busted, I went and played 1/2 cash. They opened a new table but there were only four of us at it with no waiting list. The table isn't eligible for the bad beat jack pot unless the table is at least 5-handed, so the other 3 people refused to play. I really wanted to play short handed but they wouldn't have any of it and left to go join full tables. Bastards.

So I went and joined a pretty boring 10-handed table myself. It seemed like the typical table you'd find there but without the crazy person trying to raise it every time preflop - this table tried to limp every hand preflop instead. So, in my determination to learn how to not be a bored nit in these games, I started raising these limps in position. One of the first times I did this, I did it on the button with 9To, raising to $15. SB, the only player at the table with over $400 at the table, called. SB had been playing quite a few limped pots, but he seemed okay overall. I have seen him in this cardroom before and I'm pretty sure he's a regular, but I had no real reads. The flop came JJx rainbow, he checked, I c bet, and he called. Turn came a ten and he checked. Is checking behind better than firing again? Before the turn came I wanted to double barrel anyway, but then the ten confused me for some reason. Thoughts?

So I kept raising limps in position and the guy on my right was getting annoyed. The first time I raised his limp to $15, he folded. The second time I raised, he called, and then he folded to a bet on the turn. The third time, I actually heard him make an annoyed sound when I raised. It folded around to the SB who called, and after thinking for a second, the guy on my right called behind. I hadn't played any pots with either of these players yet. I had no reads on the guy to my right (other than he straddled the first hand he played and then he just proceeded to play limped pots), and I knew that the SB was a huge nit who wouldn't put any money in post flop unless she had it.

Anyway, the SB had maybe $150 in her stack, the guy to my right had ~$250, and I had ~$200. My hand was T9 of spades, and the flop came T9x all hearts. SB checked and the guy to my right bet $25 OOP into a $50 pot - what does this kind of bet mean? I raised him to $75 (pot now $150), SB folded, and he pushed. Pot was $260 and I had $110 behind. Thoughts on this one?

No other interesting hands. I played for cash for 4 hours and ended up down $125. I was definitely card dead for most of the night (my highest pocket pair was TT), but I did flop two sets :)

Okay so running tally is now -$705 in cash and -$60 in donkaments. I'll probably go play all day on Saturday. I'm tempted to be a fish and try to satellite into the BC Poker Championships which takes place in November. I probably shouldn't.

I've gone to play live only twice since I last wrote. I got the silly idea that I should go get a full time job, so now I don't really have any time to play because I'm working 50+ hours again.

I think I went to play on the 6th and I ended up down $333. I was kind of pissed off after that night because I was sick of losing money in these games and I couldn't figure out whether I was running bad or playing bad.

I don't remember anything interesting from that night. I'm pretty sure everything was really standard, which probably should have made me realize that I'm more running bad than playing bad right now :P

I went last night but only played for a few hours. I finally left with a profit though: + $43 :D happy happy times. I finally got a big pocket pair too, it was very exciting. Now that I've finally gotten KK again in a cash game, my next goal is to get dealt aces. I feel like I can attain this goal ...

I have nothing interesting to say, only boring and standard stuff. I watched a lot of hands where people made it excruciatingly obvious what they held but they still got paid off with their monster hands. And really that's all these games are, getting paid off by people who don't bother to even consider what you might have.

Okay new total is -$995 in cash and -$120 in donkaments.

GO GET 'EM COURTIEBEEEEEEE

:heart: :heart:

Long time no post. I've played a bit but I think I'm missing some numbers. Oh well, here's what I know:

Dec 3: -$61 cash, ~3 hrs (Vegas MGM casino!)
Dec 6: -$221 cash ~9 hrs (This night tilted me. I had 4 buyins in front of me at one point but then got tangled up with the other big stack at the table and lost my stack to him over two hands, lol)
Feb/March: -$265 donkaments, +$397 cash ~8 hrs

Totals: -$880 cash, -$385 donkaments :roll:

Okay here's a hand I wanna ask about. My questions: 1) Should I bet or check this flop? 2) What's the best way to play the turn?

Background: I've been raising a lot in LP and I've only shown down low connectors and one gappers. I had one hand with Seat 8 where I raised in LP 46s over limps ~$20 and Seat 8 was in the blinds. He asked, "Do you have another premium hand like 45?". I ignored him, he thought for a few more seconds and then called. HU to the flop which was low (nothing over a T at least) and gave me a gutshot with a flush draw. He donk bet OOP $25, I raised to $70, and he folded. I showed my 46s and he said, "Better than what I had." He then proceeded to mutter amongst the guys at the other end of the table (I think I was sitting in seat 4).

Limps to me and I get dealt QQ in the SB. I raise to $22 - this is my first raise OOP (over the last 2.5 hours).

Seat 8 and Seat 9 both call.

courtie: ~$300
Seat 8: ~$250
Seat 9: ~$200 (He just came to the table. I've played with him before and I don't remember what I think of him, although I really don't think that he's very good)

Pot: ~$70. Flop is JJ4 with two spades (I have no spade). I check, two more checks.

Turn is 5, not a spade and not the same suit as the other J. I check, Seat 8 checks, Seat 9 bets $30. I call, Seat 7 calls.

Pot: ~$160. River is Q (dammit, I can't remember if it was a spade).

I bet $80, Seat 8 raises to $160, Seat 9 folds. I push, obv.

when you playing next ? lets to a flopturnriver meet up hahaha would be neat playing with another guy from this board. I play at edgewater and river rock, sometimes at boulevard and starlight or cascades (mostly edgewater though)

as far as the hand, I do not like the flop check because it can induce a big bluff and then you dont know where you stand (you would automatically put him on a jack) I would small ball it here and bet out $20 to $25 bucks on the flop to see where I am at.

I like the turn check though (if you lead out on the flop) it looks like you tried to steal it but then gave up.

The queen is a gift on the river, you ship it in and it looks like a big bluff on the end.

SHIP IT!

Do you frequent River Rock? I played there exclusively during the past month or so and had a great time playing the 1/2 game there. I'll be back in 3 weeks for 10 days ish, we should organize some sort of link up and pwn the n00bs together!

Your name isn't Annie, is it?

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

Okay here's a hand I wanna ask about. My questions: 1) Should I bet or check this flop? 2) What's the best way to play the turn?

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Usually bet 1/2 pot. Check is fine. Jx will usually flat your c-bet or min-raise.

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Originally Posted by GahGah604

when you playing next ? lets to a flopturnriver meet up hahaha would be neat playing with another guy from this board. I play at edgewater and river rock, sometimes at boulevard and starlight or cascades (mostly edgewater though)

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Epic fail on multiple levels

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Originally Posted by swiggidy

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Originally Posted by GahGah604

when you playing next ? lets to a flopturnriver meet up hahaha would be neat playing with another guy from this board. I play at edgewater and river rock, sometimes at boulevard and starlight or cascades (mostly edgewater though)

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Epic fail on multiple levels

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it made me lol :D Where are the games the best, GahGah? I haven't even been to starlight yet.

I've played solely at River Rock. I've played at Edgewater once but that was for a cfox donkament. I think I don't ever go there because I don't wanna ever have to deal with parking, although I'm sure there must be free parking for casino goers.

You're here ~April 15th, BankItDrew? Where are you staying? We'll definitely meet up in the cardroom while you're here this time around. Do you come down with a group of friends?

courtiebee, are you going to Vegas with us?

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

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Originally Posted by swiggidy

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Originally Posted by GahGah604

when you playing next ? lets to a flopturnriver meet up hahaha would be neat playing with another guy from this board. I play at edgewater and river rock, sometimes at boulevard and starlight or cascades (mostly edgewater though)

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Epic fail on multiple levels

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it made me lol :D Where are the games the best, GahGah? I haven't even been to starlight yet.

I've played solely at River Rock. I've played at Edgewater once but that was for a cfox donkament. I think I don't ever go there because I don't wanna ever have to deal with parking, although I'm sure there must be free parking for casino goers.

You're here ~April 15th, BankItDrew? Where are you staying? We'll definitely meet up in the cardroom while you're here this time around. Do you come down with a group of friends?

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I'll be staying at some hotel in Vancouver and probably playing Edgewater exclusively. Yes with a group of friends, maybe 3 or 4 of us.

I prefer edgewater because of location and poker room hours of operation. Is river rock still closing at 4am?

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Originally Posted by Fnord

courtiebee, are you going to Vegas with us?

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I don't think so :( every year I say, "I'll go next year" and then I never do.

I really wanna see you play live, though, Fnord. If I go later this year, will you meet up with me so that I can rail you at the table? I'll be one of those girls who sits behind a guy and watches him play for hours :D

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Originally Posted by BankItDrew

I prefer edgewater because of location and poker room hours of operation. Is river rock still closing at 4am?

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Yeah. I keep hoping that it closes at 4 am because of the construction that's going on right now, but I'm not very confident.

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

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Originally Posted by swiggidy

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Originally Posted by GahGah604

when you playing next ? lets to a flopturnriver meet up hahaha would be neat playing with another guy from this board. I play at edgewater and river rock, sometimes at boulevard and starlight or cascades (mostly edgewater though)

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Epic fail on multiple levels

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it made me lol :D Where are the games the best, GahGah? I haven't even been to starlight yet.

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There is an edgewater in Vegas too. So I will 1/2 apologize as it only fails on one level.

But yeah, I :lol: also.

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

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Originally Posted by BankItDrew

I prefer edgewater because of location and poker room hours of operation. Is river rock still closing at 4am?

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Yeah. I keep hoping that it closes at 4 am because of the construction that's going on right now, but I'm not very confident.

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Whe i visited in January, one of the dealers mentioned that 160 employees had been let go recently. This is probably closer to the reason.

oh yeah, I forgot about that. One of the floor managers that I talk to quite a bit has been dealing a lot lately and he said that he wishes he got laid off too because he hates his job :P

They usually have a series of donkaments in May and in November. PokerStars actually even ran satellites to the one last November, which was pretty cool. A dealer mentioned that he doesn't think either series will run this year, though, because there aren't enough dealers after the layoff. Obviously the May series won't happen because we haven't heard anything about it yet. Maybe there's still hope for the November one :(

I never play anymore so I always forget that I have this to keep track of my wins/losses (mostly losses apparently).

I think it's something like
April 11: +$61 cash, ~7 hours
April 24: -$285 cash, ? hours and -$100 donkament
April 25: +$24 cash, ? hours
Today: -$100 donkament

Totals: -$1080 cash, -$585 donkaments. Go me!

1/2 NL ~$250 effective. I have AK (black cards) in EP and raise to $15. One guy calls in MP and we're HU to the flop. K high flop with two diamonds and I bet $20; he calls. Turn is a diamond and I bet $40; he calls. River is a blank. What's my best play? Bet/fold? Check/call? Check/fold?

Background on villain: He's been playing lots of pots, mostly limping and calling. He's been active but not crazy post flop. Most of the hands he's won have been without showdown. When he bets it's usually close to the size of the pot and I've seen him raise a fair amount of flop bets. I recall one HU pot where he called the flop, checked the turn, and then called the river on a Kxxxx board and mucked when his opponent showed KQ.

We'd played two HU pots before this hand. Hand one: I raised in MP with QJ and he called on BU with 99. I check/called AAx flop, I checked A turn, and he called my bet on Q river. Hand two: I raised on BU and he limp/called. I checked 884 flop behind and he check/folded an A turn.

I'd been raising a lot in LP but I'd rarely raised EP so far (3.5 hours in).

Also, does anyone have any tips for remembering cards so that you can actually post the hand properly after you get home? I barely remember action, nevermind cards ...


I was -$2 today over 4 hours. -$1082 cash, -$585 donkaments.

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

Also, does anyone have any tips for remembering cards so that you can actually post the hand properly after you get home? I barely remember action, nevermind cards ...

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buy a very small notebook. or a tape recorder.

B/F IMO.

You can keep notes on a blackberry or IPhone/IPod Touch. It'll be sweet if the IPhone gets poker hand history apps! (maybe it does?)

Check/fold or Bet/fold depending how how loose he'll call 3 barrels.

1/2 NL at River Rock.

When this hand happened, I'd been playing for around 2.5 hours and I'd been paid off every time I hit. I'd been playing straight forward, betting and raising when I had a hand.

UTG was pretty aggressive and he won his chips by betting his decent hands. He also won quite a few pots without show down. LP seemed tight-ish, the type to not go in without at least TP and huge draws.

UTG ~$550
LP ~$150
I am UTG+1. I cover UTG and get dealt 77 (red cards).

UTG raises to $15 and when I call, he says out loud "oh no". I smile at him and say, "yeah you're dead" and he says, "You win every pot you play." 2 others (including the guy in LP) call and the pot is ~$65.

Flop comes T7x with two spades. UTG bets $60 and it's pretty obvious he has either KK or AA because that's a bet screaming, "please don't draw out on me!" Given this, is it better for me to raise or call?

Last night my gut said that it was better to call because I'd raised with my monsters all night so far and this gives him a chance to go crazy on a non-spade turn. But thinking about it again, would it be better to just raise and give him the chance to get it in on the flop since it's obvious he just wants to price us out?




I hit like a champ and got paid off for everything last night. People were just handing me their chips and I always had it.

~3 hours, +$1711 playing cash. Totals: +$629 cash, -$585 donkaments.

As sick as you might feel, probably just call. Hope for a blank and watch AA/KK ship it in on the turn to protect his hand.

I'd rather raise the flop.. I think he's more likely to spaz the flop to protect his hand + commits earlier. We hate life if he decides to b/f a turn spade or something.

If he's on scared money he gets away from his hand with a flop raise this deep. With less money behind I'd stick it in because he committed.

k, I'm glad my gut is right sometimes ;)

Here's another I'm not positive about:

$200 effective stacks. The SB is an old guy who just got to the table a few orbits ago. He's not overly tight preflop (I've seen him limp in various situations including UTG) but I haven't seen him in any post flop pots yet.

I raise QT on the button $16 after two limps and SB instacalls me. Both limps call too. I check behind a 995 flop. The turn is a Q and SB bets $45. The other players fold. Do I call or fold?

snap fold most of the time

congrats on the big win recently

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

old guy

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Quote:

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I raise QT on the button $16 after two limps and SB instacalls me. Both limps call too. I check behind a 995 flop. The turn is a Q and SB bets $45. The other players fold. Do I call or fold?

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Fold :)

fold QT hand. I felt so bored and cards dead tonight at my local casino here and left there with $40 winning :cry: Riverrock is the way to go,dude.

Thanks guys. And yeah, River Rock is awesome but it's been pretty swingy for me (although my sample size is definitely small). This is the first time I've been up any money at all since I started this thread!

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

Thanks guys. And yeah, River Rock is awesome but it's been pretty swingy for me (although my sample size is definitely small). This is the first time I've been up any money at all since I started this thread!

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i lost two buyins at ns casino tonight. KK << AA and QQ got cracked by donk's T3o two pairs.

T3, nice!

how many tables does your room have? From your posts, I've gathered that the games aren't that great there.

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

T3, nice!

how many tables does your room have? From your posts, I've gathered that the games aren't that great there.

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probably 8 tables. loose and crazy sometimes. Some ppl from PEI are real gamblers.

Went to River Rock and played so badly last night. Working early during the week has been pretty bad for recreational live poker because I start getting really sleepy when the games start getting good. I figure I played 2 hours longer than I should have last night, and I'm pretty sure I spewed away ~$200 because of it.

There's a regular at River Rock who plays 1/2 NL and is a huge whale with a bad temper. He seems to have unlimited rebuy money and he's willing to change tables if people start berating him. Anyway, in my sleepy state I just couldn't figure out how to play with him at the table last night. It wasn't that I couldn't play against him, it was that I didn't know what to do about everyone else who was trying to get in pots with him too.

The whale's VPIP was 100% (he calls raises with 72o) and his PFR must've been 75%. I've played only a limited # of pots with him in the past but I know that he likes to bluff and win pots with aggression. He will frequently show bluffs and he will call bets with almost any pair. He will also bet the same way when he has the nuts.

Should I be waiting for excellent hands and then isolate him PF, or should I be trying to play as many pots with him as possible?

My problem with trying to play pots with him was obviously everyone else was doing the same. So he'd raise to $25 and he'd get 5 calls. Playing this way, I guess I just have to hit huge?

I made the mistake of trying to get in pots with him and going all the way with top pair. TP is the nuts when you're HU vs him but with 4 people in the pot not so much. I called his raise to $25 PF with JTo in the CO and there were 4 of us to the flop. The whale bet $60 on a T7x flop with two hearts and got 1 fold, and then it was me to act with someone behind me on the button. I pushed (I had $175 behind) which I feel was the correct play given that I was in the hand, but should I have been in the hand in the first place?



Since I last posted, I've only gone to play poker 5 times. I'm -$436 over ~13 hours playing 1/2 and +$334 in donkaments since then.

Totals: +$193 cash, -$251 donkaments.

I call with KQ and KJ vs this whale and insta muck JTo in this hand.You should isolate and play more HU hands with him in position.Otherwise, I'd still refuse to loosen up and wait for quality hands.Wow,There must be some sick poker action in vancouer.Maybe I should move there next year??

The games tightened up a bit for a few months at the start of the year (from what I could see with my limited sample size) but it seems like they're picking up again! Seems like it started getting better after they left the room open for 24 hours again.

if he gets 5 callers to a 25$ raise, the other people are obviously calling him extremely light. Do most of the players still raise their premiums? if so, you can shove an extremely wide range here. if not, you can still shove an extremely wide range here, just a little bit less wide than in the other scenario

Thanks for your reply, Woutman984. Welcome to FTR!

BC Poker Championships are coming in November.

Nov 15: $100+$20 $100 re-buys $100 add-on
Nov 16 to Nov 17: $1000+$100 (final table scheduled for 9 pm on Nov 17)
Nov 18: $100+$20 $100 re-buys $100 add-on
Nov 19 to Nov 22: ME, $2500+$200 (final table Nov 22)

Every Sunday they're running $110+$10 satellites to the $1100 event. I've decided to play every Sunday satellite because they're sure to be very soft and great for the BR. Today the tournament got 44 participants and after a couple final table scares, I won a seat. We'll see how many seats I can win at the end of it all (I'll have 9 more chances I think) and then I can decide whether or not I'll actually play the event.

Other than that, I've played 2 hours of cash since I last posted and made a huge $27 :D

Totals: +$220 cash, +$849 donkaments.

I dont like playing in the local poker rooms. Its a donkfest. They start with a modest 50 buyin then rebuys for the 1st hour at 25. A lot of these idiots plop down a couple hundred in an hour. I'll give you an example. I'm sitting on the button with KK. BB 200 SB 100. 9 man table and everybody calls around to me. I raise on the button to 1000. about 1/5 of my stack. I figured I'd chase away the chasers and the fish.....Wrong. The guy to my left in the SB calls. everybody else folds. The flop comes out K68. I check. He bets 200. I figured he hit trip 6's or 8's. I raise to 1200, he calls. J pops on the turn. I bet 2000. He calls. now I'm thinking WTF. river comes 4 clubs. I got him covered so I push all in. He calls. He turns over 57 off suit. STR8...

I asked how do you call a 1000 raise with 5/7 off suit. He said he just likes to play and figured he could rebuy. I was Pissed. It took about an hour and a half to rebuild my stack.

I realized the mentality of the donk room and used it to my advantage. I busted the idiot after they cut off the rebuys. I finished 3rd in the tourney and won 2400. After that everytime I play there I play tight until after the rebuy period. then I clean up. Great place to put cash in your pocket.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Celticsman

I dont like playing in the local poker rooms. Its a donkfest. They start with a modest 50 buyin then rebuys for the 1st hour at 25. A lot of these idiots plop down a couple hundred in an hour. I'll give you an example. I'm sitting on the button with KK. BB 200 SB 100. 9 man table and everybody calls around to me. I raise on the button to 1000. about 1/5 of my stack. I figured I'd chase away the chasers and the fish.....Wrong. The guy to my left in the SB calls. everybody else folds. The flop comes out K68. I check. He bets 200. I figured he hit trip 6's or 8's. I raise to 1200, he calls. J pops on the turn. I bet 2000. He calls. now I'm thinking WTF. river comes 4 clubs. I got him covered so I push all in. He calls. He turns over 57 off suit. STR8...

I asked how do you call a 1000 raise with 5/7 off suit. He said he just likes to play and figured he could rebuy. I was Pissed. It took about an hour and a half to rebuild my stack.

I realized the mentality of the donk room and used it to my advantage. I busted the idiot after they cut off the rebuys. I finished 3rd in the tourney and won 2400. After that everytime I play there I play tight until after the rebuy period. then I clean up. Great place to put cash in your pocket.

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[ ] has anything to do with the thread
[x] is a hijack

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Celticsman

I dont like playing in the local poker rooms. Its a donkfest. They start with a modest 50 buyin then rebuys for the 1st hour at 25. A lot of these idiots plop down a couple hundred in an hour. I'll give you an example. I'm sitting on the button with KK. BB 200 SB 100. 9 man table and everybody calls around to me. I raise on the button to 1000. about 1/5 of my stack. I figured I'd chase away the chasers and the fish.....Wrong. The guy to my left in the SB calls. everybody else folds. The flop comes out K68. I check. He bets 200. I figured he hit trip 6's or 8's. I raise to 1200, he calls. J pops on the turn. I bet 2000. He calls. now I'm thinking WTF. river comes 4 clubs. I got him covered so I push all in. He calls. He turns over 57 off suit. STR8...

I asked how do you call a 1000 raise with 5/7 off suit. He said he just likes to play and figured he could rebuy. I was Pissed. It took about an hour and a half to rebuild my stack.

I realized the mentality of the donk room and used it to my advantage. I busted the idiot after they cut off the rebuys. I finished 3rd in the tourney and won 2400. After that everytime I play there I play tight until after the rebuy period. then I clean up. Great place to put cash in your pocket.

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cool story bro

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I dont like playing in the local poker rooms.

Great place to put cash in your pocket.

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GO CELTICS

Went to River Rock, busted the satellite, went home. I'm 1 for 2 now.

Totals: +$220 cash, +$729 donkaments.

Busted another satellite today, this time in the first half hour :D I called two pushes with 20bb with AK and couldn't suck out vs QQ. At first I wasn't sure if I should call after they shoved. The first guy had 15bbs and I put him on a fairly wide range, but the second guy who shoved had over 30bbs and I had to think before calling him. I've been playing with ranges on pokerstove, though, and the call seems fine.

Played 1/2 for 4.5 hours and profited $703. I hit some nice hands today and got paid off nicely.

Totals: +$923 cash, +$609 donkaments.

I just realized I made this thread 1 year ago. I've played only 75-80 hours of 1/2 cash over the last year, which is around 2000 hands. That's a pretty lol small sample size. This past year was definitely fail when it came to playing a lot of live cash :(

It's so crazy how few hands you'll play live when compared with online poker. How long would it take someone to play 2000 hands playing online? A few hours while multitabling?

I like live poker about a million times better than online. I really like the chips, the people, the reads, the tells, the dealers, the lack of multitabling, the lack of programs, the lack of software. I love that I can sit there and be a female and automatically have this ridiculously super tight image for no reason. I love that people freak out when you raise in LP and threaten to push the "next time" but then never do.

I'm going to quit my job in January because I've saved money for long enough and I want to go somewhere to do something cool. I'm thinking about driving cross country and moving out east because I've never been there before and it seems like I should travel while I don't have a career and I don't have a family to take care of. I wish I could say that I think I'm finally going to study poker and actually care about winning at it. I've been playing recreationally for over 4 years and I've made money at it, but I've never really gotten serious and actually tried to study it. I've never done anything to get better at it. I don't know why. I've even tried to play 6 max cash instead of working part time and all I did during those months was spend my savings and not bother with poker.

I don't understand why I don't try to get better. In everything I've ever done and taken seriously, I've always been the best I could be. I'm very competitive and if I care about what I'm doing, I hate not being at or near the top. This has been in everything my entire life, including school and work. Why isn't it this way with me and poker? The only thing I've ever done since learning how to play is join this forum. I don't read books, I don't watch videos, I don't play hands, I don't talk to people about it. Hell, I've owned all the HOH books since the beginning of time and I haven't even read them yet. I've owned Theory of Poker for over a year and I think I've only bothered to read a couple chapters. I'm such a disappointment.

Oops @ the vent. It just came to mind when I thought about how few hands I've played since starting this thread. And I want to think that I'll finally play more and try to get better once I quit my job and have the time. I don't know if I actually will this time though?

There's nothing wrong with just playing for fun, of course. My lack of work when it comes to poker is just something that bothers me for some reason.

Played cash for 2 hours on Thursday and lost $2. Went to play the satellite today and somehow it sold out at 66 seats, so I missed out. I guess that as it gets closer to the event, I'm gonna have to start getting there early to grab a seat. I played cash instead and lost $301 (3.5 hours).

I've been trying to raise more in LP in limped pots and it often works out fine if I'm able to figure out a raise that will usually get me HU. I'm finding it more difficult to play 3-way pots after I've raised in LP, though. I definitely lost more than I made overall c-betting after my raises today. I double barreled a 6622 board once, too, which didn't work out very well :P

I think I need to play nittier than I have been lately, especially when I'm at tables that don't like to fold to raises.


Totals: +$622 cash (~82 hours), +$609 donkaments.

I don't cbet and DB air very often in loose low stake live games especially when it's a multiway pot alreay. ppl in 1/2NL live are mostly unaware of your hand range and only play their own cards(zero level thinking).In some juicy spots, I probably iso/raise/sweeten with Suited broadways from CO or BT and use my position to my advantage to pwn one or two OOP villians. Also, I think that 5-7 hours each session might be optimal considering that you only see about 30 hands per hour.

I've usually been pretty nitty with c bets in pots with 3 or more people. I decided to try some 3-way c bets after seeing people instafold to previous similar bets, but I dunno if the risk was worth the potential reward! I agree that some longer sessions would definitely be better... I'm gonna have to wait til I quit my job before I can start doing that on a regular basis.

How often do you take breaks when you're playing a 5-8 hour session?

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

I've usually been pretty nitty with c bets in pots with 3 or more people. I decided to try some 3-way c bets after seeing people instafold to previous similar bets, but I dunno if the risk was worth the potential reward! I agree that some longer sessions would definitely be better... I'm gonna have to wait til I quit my job before I can start doing that on a regular basis.

How often do you take breaks when you're playing a 5-8 hour session?

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i often popped into my local room late in the evening and rarely took breaks each 4-7 hour session. Most of my huge winnings are made in the last two hours( our room closes at 4am in the morning) when a few blackjack gamblers or drunks come in and gamble with tiny equity :P BTW, if you're a consistent player you'll be well rewarded in these live donky games.

200bb effective stacks. I raised to $15 with AQo in MP after two limps and the BB and both limps called. The flop came AK7 rainbow and the BB bet OOP $25. The other players folded. What's my best play here?

The BB had only been around for maybe 10 hands or so. He wasn't overly tight preflop so far but I haven't seen him do much post flop yet.

Do players do this with Ax? I can't think of anything else that he could have that I would beat on this flop.



What's a good stop loss for these silly 1/2 NL games? I usually bring 3 buyins but when I got to -$500 today, I didn't feel like getting any money from the ATM so I just went home :P



2.5 hours -$500. Totals: +$122 cash (~84 hours), +$609 donkaments.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

200bb effective stacks. I raised to $15 with AQo in MP after two limps and the BB and both limps called. The flop came AK7 rainbow and the BB bet OOP $25. The other players folded. What's my best play here?

The BB had only been around for maybe 10 hands or so. He wasn't overly tight preflop so far but I haven't seen him do much post flop yet.

Do players do this with Ax? I can't think of anything else that he could have that I would beat on this flop.



What's a good stop loss for these silly 1/2 NL games? I usually bring 3 buyins but when I got to -$500 today, I didn't feel like getting any money from the ATM so I just went home :P



2.5 hours -$500. Totals: +$122 cash (~84 hours), +$609 donkaments.

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i usually call down vs standard live players depending on their bet sizing and their tendencies. Tight BB has a few worse ace in his donk lead range but i probably give up if he bets BIG on the turn.Usually, I set my normal stop loss limit at 3 buyins. Sometimes i just quit early when i run like dogshit and feel like cards dead.
Last night i sat down at 1/2 NL table about 11pm and folded 90% of unplayable junk hands in the first two hours. Finally, i got dealt AK UTG and limped in with the intention of limp/reraising. One guy behind raised to $25, another guy with big stack called and i shoved all-in 90BB. Big stack donk called with A4s and hit 4 on the flop :twisted: Yeah, i only dropped one buy-in but left casino immediately after that hand. I know i will come back and PWN these retarded ppl soon. :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pokerfan

I know i will come back and PWN these retarded ppl soon. :P

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yesss this is what I keep telling myself ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by courtiebee

I've usually been pretty nitty with c bets in pots with 3 or more people. I decided to try some 3-way c bets after seeing people instafold to previous similar bets, but I dunno if the risk was worth the potential reward!

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3-handed, just fire away. You get so many loose calls and they miss their crap so often that you're good. 4 and 5 way pots, sure throw some bluffs in (particulary on dry boards and flops you can represent.) Don't just blast away when the flop comes T87 two suited.

Sounds good, thanks for the encouragement there. And it's nice to see you, I've missed your posts in this forum!

I can't stress enough the importance of table selection in live games.On Friday night I barely made even in the first hour, then I spotted two huge donators and switched to that table. Oh,yeah I was up $800 without bluffing by the end of the night.In a good loose passive game, you should always bet/bet/raise for value. Also,don't miss your river thin value bet vs these unaware players.

How do you scout other tables? Do you just get up, wander around, and watch for a while? When I know my table is bad and I need a table change, I never know how to figure out which table to go to. And I suppose you'd need to watch a table for at least a few hands to actually know it's a good one?

I'm such a noob.