I got to the table a little before 10 am and bought in for $500 chips in the 2/5 NL at The Venetian. My second hand I look down at AA. Nice. I made it 30 and got one caller. I took it down with a c-bet and no fireworks. The next hand I get AK and make it 30 again and get the same caller. He donk bets me $55 on a 7 high flop so I fold.
Looking around the table the 1st round I only notice 2 players that I probably need to worry about. One was a girl to my left and the other was the guy who called me both times I raised. I’m sure I’ve played with this girl before but I can’t place it. After about 20 min I had built my stack up to almost $700 after winning a decent pot with JJ against the guy who always calls my raises. He again folded on the flop after I c-bet. I can tell he is getting tired of doing that and he has a stack of about $1500 (foreshadowing).
Meanwhile I look down at QQ in the cutoff. There were a few limpers and I make it $45. Girl to my left calls on the button and one of the limpers calls. The flop comes 9,9,5 with two clubs. It’s checked to me and I bet $65. Girl quickly calls and other guy folds. The turn is a non club Ace. Yuck. When she called I really put her on a pair so there is no reason for me to change my mind now. She could have called with the nut flush draw and hit the ace but I think she would have raised on the flop if that was the case. Anyway, after considering everything I think most likely it is safe to check b/c if I’m right I have her drawing to only 2 outs. I also want to lose the minimum if she shows up with 89s or T9s. I check and she quickly bets out $100. I think for a min. and decide I have to stick with my initial read so I call. She has about $350 left going to the river. I have her covered. The river is a blank 2 no club. I check again and she goes in the tank. She is right beside me so I am watching her out of the corner of my eye. I could tell she was trying to decide how much she was going to bet then something neat happened. Her left hand motioned like she was going to check. It was very slight but I noticed it. I know now that I for sure have the best hand. I was worried she was deciding how much to value bet but really she was deciding whether to bluff or not. She then pushes the entire $350 out and is all in. Before I snap call, I went through the hand one more time and decided I had to call. She flips over pocket 4′s and I ship the pot. She quickly jumps up pats me on the back says nice call and books it out of the room.
In less than have an hour in Vegas I have already met my daily limit of $1K a day, but it’s only 10:15am. What am I going to do for the rest of the day. I can’t check into the room until 1pm so I’m going to play at least until then. A couple of hands later I get 66 in middle position so I limp and the guy who just sit down in her seat raises it to $40. An early limper calls so I call. No way I’m going to flop a set? Wrong. The perfect flop A,4,6 rainbow. 1st guy checks and I lead out for $65 hoping that the guy has a big aces and raises me. He is a good player and he smells a rat. He only calls and other guy folds. The turn is another 6 to give me quads. I tried to act disgusted by his call on the flop so now I check the quads. He bets $100 and I decide just to call. Not sure why I didn’t raise but I didn’t want to chase him off. The river is another 4 pairing the board again. I figured that looked like a good bluffing card so I lead out for $200. He thinks for a while and is naturally confused by my line in this hand. Lucky for me most of the time when people are confused they call. He did and I took down another big pot.
Remember when I said guy that I was worried about was tired of folding to my c-bets? Well, he decided to take a stand on this hand. I get KK in late postion and make it $40 after a few limpers. He calls as he was one of the limpers. The flop comes Q,9,8 with 2 clubs. I figure this is about as bad of a non ace flop as I can see with KK. This time he leads out for $65. For some dumb reason and quickly call. Very bad move on my part. I picked up no information and this guy has enough chips to felt me. I’m thinking he could have JT, 88, 99. Why am I seeing monsters under the bed? Anyway, the turn is a 7 non club. I get the feeling he is ready to play for all of his chips. He now bets $150 and I think for a short time and fold my KK face up. He flips up 7,4 for a stone cold bluff. Had I raised the flop he would have folded. He also would have let me know if he had flopped a set right then also. By just calling I got no information.
Now onto the epic hand of the day. The hand these guys will all go home and tell their buddies about. There were 5 limpers and I almost muck my 3,3 but then decide what the heck maybe I’ll flop another set. 2 more in the pot made it 8 handed to see the flop. The flop is Q, 4, 3 with 2 clubs. A guys bets $20 and another guy calls the $20 and I raise it up to $105. Everyone folds to the intial better who goes all in for a total of $120. Before I get a chance to put in my $15 the caller says reraise and makes it $320. All of the sudden an easy pot has turned into something I better decide what to do here. This guy had not played a hand since I had been at the table and I had already shown down some big hands and caught a big bluff. Taking all these things into consideration I’m starting to believe the only hand this character can have is 4,4. It’s possible he has the nut flush draw I guess but why would he raise with that? Obviously the intial better has a hand and it’s pretty obvious I have one. He can’t be bluffing. He wouldn’t do that with A,Q I don’t think and there is no way he lets all of us see the fop with QQ. The only hand that makes sense is 4,4. I check to see how many chips he has left and it is $675. I know it’s all going in if I decide to play this hand. Do I really want to give back all my profit on bottom set? I decide I don’t and I fold the 3,3 face up and the table goes bezerk. Are you crazy! To my credit the guy turns over 4,4 and I made a great laydown. I saved almost $1,000 by folding a hand that I only had one out with. The guy was so impressed he stood up to shake my hand. Then everyone started asking me questions about how did I know and how they have never seen anyone fold a set on the flop before. I knew it was time to leave.
Anyway, I lost a couple hundred by playing Q,j out of postion and vow not to do that the rest of the trip. I cashed out for a profit of $1,274 in 3 hrs. Not bad for the 1st day.
I had to come to McDonalds to get Wi-fi to post this. I will write about the rest of the trip when I get home.