I was very fortunate to have Good Friday off from my job, so you can guess how I spent my day off. That’s right. I made a trip to the 'Shoe.

I arrived at the 'Shoe around noon and when I walked into the room I was shocked to see that the room was rocking. I went directly to the brush and checked in with them. I then went and scouted the tables and I found out why the room was banging so early in the afternoon. They had a $75+$40+$40 unlimited rebuys for the first 90 minutes tourney going on. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to participate, because there was some fishy play from what I witnessed. They tourney had about 60 runners and first place was $4K. I am already making plans to make that tourney on July 4th. That is the next Friday that I will be off from work.

My wife was coming over to Bossier to meet up with me after she got off work so we could enjoy a night together alone. I knew I didn’t have long to play and when it took me 30 minutes to get seated in a $1-$3NL game I was kind of bummed, but I passed the time donking around in the 4-8 Limit game. I vowed the last time I dumped $300 playing limit poker without winning a hand that I would never play limit again. I played about 2 orbits and lost $8. The only playable hand I had was KK in the SB when it folded to me and I chopped the blinds with the guy next to me.

I was finally seated in my NL game and I noticed 2 regs. They were older men. Pretty much ABC players. You know the kind I am talking about if you play live poker. All you have to do is raise to ISO them and CBET. If they don’t have anything they fold. If they give you any resistance, give it up. The rest of the table was Weak Passive.

I was up about $40 when the first interesting hand came up. I was on the button and follow 4 limpers with 9T. The flop was 778. Checks to me and I semi bluff $10 into the pot. I get two callers. The turn was a 6. BINGO. I filled my straight and when it checked to me again I bet $20 and much to my surprise I got one caller on my right. 3 on the river and he checks to me again. I make a value bet of $25 and then the guy min raises me!!! I pay him off thinking he went runner runner flush on me, but he turns over 78. Well played buddy. Way to maximize your big hands.

I chipped up to +$20 when the following hand happens. A short stack from UTG raises All-In to $6 every folds to a weak passive player on the button who calls. I sweat AK from the SB and I bump it to $26 straight. Button calls and the flop reveals an 8-9-4r. I notice that the button checks out of turn and I fire $40 at the pot. He calls. Uh ohhhh. 2 on the turn and I fire another $85 at the pot, but this time he folds. Whewwwww. I thought I learned my lesson the last time I tried to bluff in a live game. LOL. I drag the nice sidepot, but the All-In raiser turns over 4-4 for a set. Oh well. After the hand I told the guy I knew he didn’t have a strong hand because he checked out of turn. I made $60 off of him, so the coaching lesson wasn’t free for him. I was proud of myself that I picked up on him checking out of turn and I actually followed through with a 2 barrell bluff with AK. He said he J-T for the straight draw.

A couple of orbits go by and my wife calls me and says that she is getting into Bossier. I cash out my $105 win and call it a day. I promptly hand my winnings over to her. Women are the rake guys!!! Don’t forget it.


Good Luck Guys!!!!

Meh day @ the Shoe.

Last Saturday fellow tworagger Landlord79 and I headed over to our home casino to play some live poker. Our regular live game for now is $1-$3NL. We headed out around 9am and arrived at Horseshoe-Bossier City poker room and we were immediately sat at different NL tables. I joined my table which consisted of a mixture of weak tight old men and calling stations. The first hand at my table three people limped and I sweated AKo and I bumped it to $25 straight and an old man to my left cold called and every one else folded. I CBET $40 on a K high flop and took it down. You can’t win them all unless you win the first one right? So I am up about $50 when the following hand comes up. The old man on my direct right who was pretty much fit or fold bumped it to $23 with a couple of limpers and I squeezed AK this time and I 3bet to $60 straight and when it got back to him he announced raise and I quickly mucked my hand face-up before the guy could even get an amount out of his mouth. I got some weird looks from a lot of the players who thought that AKs is the nutz. The old man showed AA. One more for the good guys!!!

I am about even when I sweat AKo once again from LP and I punished the 3 limpers and make it $25 straight. The guy on my left, who had me covered, kept playing every time I would raise and I knew this was going to be a problem unless I made hands vs him. We miss flops to right? Ok, so the guy cold calls me preflop once again. I make a CBET to $40 on the K-4-Qflop, but this time he calls. The turn was 9 and that made a straight possible for people can’t fold JT preflop. I cant give this guy a free card if he is drawing, so I cut out 12 redbirds and was going to see what he was going to do. He called my turn bet pretty quick and now I am getting pretty committed by SPR standards. The river was an offsuit ace and I made a $100 bet and got looked up by A8. I can’t believe that guy looked me, but I will take it. I rake in a nice pot and as I am putting the details into my voice recorder I get a few questions about why I am recording my hands. I reveal that I am taking notes on hands that I play during live poker sessions, so that I can do trip reports for a website I represent, tworags.com obviously. I even passed out a couple of business cards. Edmond don’t worry, I am pimping the site, even though it keeps me from getting action. From then on I was referred to newcomers to the table as a pro, but I kept telling them that I just play poker as a hobby.

I chip up to up about $300 and follow limpers from MP with 88. The flop is 4-A-A rainbow and the 4 players check it around. The 3hits the turn and I make a bad play when a old man leads and I try and take it from him with a nice stiff raise, but when he announced a reraise I was toast and quickly mucked my hand. I was so mad at myself for this spewtarded play. I just dumped close to $80 on a bluff. Everyone knows you don’t bluff live donks. I shrug it off and get back to my A game.

Landlord has made it over to my table and he is unsuccessfully trying to recover some of his losses and we are shooting the bull. Live poker is so much more fun when you can sweat flops and turns with your buddies isn’t it? A few hands after the 88 debacle a couple of loose guys limp from MP position and I look down at AQo in the SB and I make it $26 total and the first limper calls and the second preflop limper shoves the rest of his stack $94 into the pot and when it gets back to me I reraise to $200 to isolate the All-In player. The original limper folds and I can’t a win coin flip vs 99. That hand pretty much made my day. It wasn’t too much longer that Landlord and I had enough for one day and we decided to call it a night.

Even though I only cashed out a small win ($70), I enjoyed my time at one of my favorite poker rooms in the South. My wife and I are making another trip over to the Shoe on Good Friday, but I don’t know how much poker I will be able to get in, with all the shopping she will want to do. I am not sure when Landlord and I will make another trip, but I can’t wait.

Landlord79 and I along with my buddy Ben, who is an online pro, made a Friday afternoon trip to play some live $1-$3NL at my home casino, Horseshoe - Bossier City. I now know what it feels like to be Landlord79 when he goes to the Boat with me. I am usually the one running hot, but he can now say that he possesses the luckbox.

Nice hat, sir!

We arrived at the ‘Shoe at about 2:30 and before we go in LL79 asks me if he could wear my lucky TwoRags.com hat that Edmond was so kind to send me and, of course, I obliged. If you’re a luckbox like me, who needs a so-called lucky hat, right? As I start walking to the table after buying my chips from the cashier I notice that LL79 already has a full buyin of $300 in the middle of the table and I haven’t even sat down yet. He gets KK on his first hand and wins about $100 before I can even bust out my iPod. I have never seen a guy look so happy in my life. I think he knew from this moment that this day would be a good one.

I never really got anything going while we were at the ‘Shoe. I was playing a very LAG game preflop and then I went to TAG post flop. I can only recall 3 hands from our very short session and they all happened back to back to back. An older fish, who is probably stuck ~$500 makes it $15 to go and I make it $45 straight with AK, everyone folds back to the old fish and he smooth calls. The flop is 925 rainbow and the fish auto pushes $143 into the pot and I have no choice but to fold my hand.

The next hand I pick up KK and open the pot for $20 straight, and of course everyone folds and I take down the nice $4 worth of blinds. WOHOOO!!!

Her first time

The very next hand I pick up QQ. The lady that LL79 mentions in his post makes it $15 to go from EP and I make it $45 straight, everyone folds back to the original raiser and she smooth calls. The flop is a lovely 3-3-5. She insta-pushes $82 into the pot and I am already thinking in my head what I should buy with her money. I can’t call quick enough and of course she turns over AA and says, “This is the first time that I have ever had these!” So in a span of 3 hands I picked up AKs, KK and QQ and I came out as a $169 loser. Boy, this game is fun.

Nice pot, LL79!

While I continue to try to win back my money that the fishies have now managed to spread around the table, I notice that LL79 is running goot and decimating the table. He is crushing the game and he actually gets 2 people all in drawing stone cold dead and wins one of the biggest pots that I have ever seen at a $1-$3NL game. Check out his trip report for details.

We end up leaving the ‘Shoe early so that we can get back home at a reasonable time. I ended up losing $215, mostly due to the AA vs. QQ hand. This is the first time since January (when LL79 and I started going to the casinos together) that I have came home a loser. I am anxiously waiting our return trip so I can get this monkey off my back.

Note to self: Don’t loan out your lucky hat to anyone again.

BJJIII

This past weekend Landlord79 and I made our semi-annual trip to Tunica, Mississippi to partake in some poker and some good southern hospitality. Friday morning we took off and our poker weekend was off and running. Our plan for the weekend was to play a lot of 1/2NL at the Gold Strike, 1/3NL at the Horseshoe and planned to play the $100+$30 $3K added tourney at Sam's Town Tunica on Saturday morning.

We arrived at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica at around 2:30 pm and checked into our hotel room, which was at a poker room rate of $50/night for the weekend. I decided that I just wanted to try and see if I could get a free upgrade without paying or doing the $20 trick. I am a mooch I know. The ‘Strike did say that they could upgrade us to suites for $75 more a night, but I politely declined. The next time I am in Tunica I will try the $20 trick and see what I can get. We unloaded our luggage and we were off to the ‘Shoe for some 1/3NL live action.

Cash Games at the 'Shoe

We walk over to the ‘Shoe, which sits next door to the Gold Strike. I sit down in seat 5 with LL79 in seat 7. I pretty much play ABC poker and am struggling to stay even. I am card dead for about 5 hours and managed to be down about $200. I rebuy to $300 when the following hand comes up:

It folds around to an older gentleman who seems to be a very straight-forward player who proceeds to raise it to $20. (When this man raises aggressively like he did he has shown down monster hands,) so I can pretty much put him on one of 3 hands. I look down at a monster, 35!!!!!! Me and another guy call his PF raise. The flop is 8 6x 4. He leads for $40 and of course I call with an open-ender and a flush draw. Turn is the J. He leads for $75 and I push for about $165 more and he eventually calls. We turn up our hands and he has AxA. I asked him if he wanted to run it twice, b/c I run bad when it comes to getting 4 flushed. He obliged, but we were told that it wasn’t allowed at the Shoe, so I said OK. The river was a brick and I am now up about $200.

This next hand is a good example of “when should I lay down the nut draw” hand. I have JTo in the BB and UTG limps, it folds to the button and he min raises to $6. I call and UTG calls. The flop is A-9-8. I check, UTG checks, Button bets $20, I call and UTG check raises to $50. Button calls and I call. The turn is a brick and I check and UTG bets $60. Button folds and I call and brick out and I have to fold to a river bet and I miss out on a huge pot. After the hand UTG shows A9o for 2 pair. Looking back on it I probably should have folded to the $60 turn bet, but hey you learn something new everyday right??? What do you guys think?

I am now about even when the following hand comes up. LL79 has moved into the 4 seat on my right. A new guy, who has joined the table and is a live one, is sitting to the right of LL79 and I. It limps around to me in the SB and I make it $20 to go with AA. I get 2 callers including the BB and the CO (live one). The flop is a horrible one for my hand K-Q-J rainbow. I lead for about $50 and it folds to the Live One who has been playing pretty much every hand like he has a monster. He pushes for about $140 total. I feel that I am behind, but I am drawing to the nut straight and it is only $90 more, so I call and he turns over T4. (?????) The turn is a club and I have to sweat the river (which is a brick) and I win a nice pot. Did I play this correctly or should I have dumped the flop when he pushed in on me? I think it is an easy call, but I could be wrong.

As LL79 stated in his blog entry that 3 guys were making it very difficult to see a flop for anything less than $25, so I see a few flops and miss and eventually get back to even. At this point we should have gotten up and found a better game that we could control and not be caught in the middle of 3 guys who were having a contest on how many pots they could win. One of these guys has had his stack take some monster hits from running bluffs and getting caught. He was up about $900 at on point, but he lost a big pot on a bluff and lost another big pot to LL79 when LL79 had kings full, so he was pretty steamed. So he is at about $400 when this happens. I am also sitting at $400 and even for the day. It is about 10pm and we have been playing with this guy for about 4 hours.

Villain opens the pot from EP for $15. He gets one caller on the button (the Live One) and I am in the BB with AQ and come along for the ride. The flop of A-J-7 rainbow is very good for my hand, so I plan on check raising the flop, but it unfortunately checks around. The turn was the 4 and I check hoping to CR once again. Finally someone falls for my trap. The initial raiser bets $20, the live one calls and I make it $75 to go. The EP raiser (villain) calls and the Live One folds. The river is a nice looking 5. I lead for $75 hoping to get value out of one pair and the guy looks at my stack and surprisingly announces that he is all in. I have $197 left, the pot is now about $600 and I am left with a huge decision. I replayed the hand through my mind and the line he took didn’t make sense to me. I keep thinking when he pushed all-in on the river he must have had a set or two pair, but I couldn’t put him on those hands, because the turn made a flush draw possible and most people would want to get it all in on the turn with a set or two pair to get rid of the flush draws and straight draws. So I had ruled out that he had a set or two pair, but now I had to put him on a hand. Most maniacs would bet a flush draw like he did on the turn and when I check raised, he gambled and called the $55 more to win a big pot. This was my thinking… Am I an idiot? So the only hand I could put him on is a busted flush draw so I put my poker knowledge into the pot along with my $197 and called his all in with one pair and good kicker hoping that he would say that I made a good call and I would win a monster pot and all would be ok, but much to my chagrin he turns over 23 for the gut-shot straight that he hit on the river. Looking back I probably should have bet more on the turn when I check-raised. What do you think? So now I am busted and there is no way in hell I can play poker after that hand, so I go up to the room for some much needed rest down $400 for the trip.

Sam's Town Tourney

It is now Saturday morning and I am wide awake around 7am or so, so I head up to the Gold Strike poker room to check out the action. I end up playing for a couple hours or so and walk out down $16. I didn’t play many hands and was up about $40 when I 3-bet with AK PF and C-Bet and some guy check raised me and I had to dump. So LL79 and I get up from the table and go downstairs to get some breakfast and head to the tourney at Sam’s Town that started at 11am. So I am now down $416 going into the tourney.

The Sam’s Town tourney was a $100+$30 3K Added tourney with 128 runners. The Sam’s Town poker room gets high compliments from me. The employees of Sam’s Town make every effort to make your playing experience very enjoyable. Sam’s Town may not be a big name casino like the Horseshoe or Grand, but the poker there is just as good or even better if you are looking for a weak game. The ‘Shoe has the toughest game in Tunica.

So I sign up for the tourney and get seated. The structure for most casino tourneys is horrible, but this tourney structure was actually very good. We started with 4K in chips and blinds started at 25/50. The levels were 30 minutes long, so I was looking forward to getting a lot of bang for my buck. So everyone knows that tourneys don’t really start until the antes kick in and that wasn’t until level 5. The first break was after level 4 and I had a little over $2200 left after being card dead and chasing with second pair and a double gutter vs. a guy who had AA. Right before the break I was moved to a new table and within 10 minutes I knew this table was full of weak tight players.

The Bubble

Level 5 started with me having $2200 and blinds were 150/300/25 ante and I was on the button. It was time for me to either double up or play the cash games that were going on. Read LL79s blog for the cash game report. First hand after the break I am on the button with T7o and I push and win the blinds. NICE!!!! I just added 30% to my stack. I keep pushing it all in to steal the blinds and all of a sudden I notice my stack climbing and climbing and climbing. This is awesome. I have gone from being on life support to actually having some chips to fight with. There were two big hands that happened in Level 5-6 that got me were I wanted to be. This guy who was sitting on my immediate right min-raised from the CO and I looked down at A2 and I just pushed in and it got back around to him and he went into the tank, but eventually folded. He ended up showing me 33 and I meant to flash him the A, but I accidentally showed him the 2 instead. Ooooops!!!! I now knew that when I pushed to steal I had to have a hand.

The next hand really wasn’t a steal, but it was a big hand that got my over the hump. A lady who I had started the tourney with who was an idiot min-raised from the CO and I called with A8 on the button. The flop was a beautiful 8-4-2 rainbow. She opened pushed for about the pot and I insta-called. She turns over A4o and I am now in position to make a run. In three levels at this table, I had gone from $2200 to around $25K in chips.

That table eventually broke and I was pissed that I wouldn’t be able to dominate the table full of weak tighties anymore, but the next table was even worse!!!!!! I stole a few pots at this table and was sitting pretty at about $45K when this hand comes up. I was sitting to the right of this guy who was using a couple of glued together riffle bullets for a card protector (enough said right?). I raise my usual 2.5x with QT and the bullet card protector guy min raises me. WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH MIN RAISES!?!? I call the raise and the flop is as a beautiful Q-T-8. I check of course and the guy bets about $3K with blinds at 300/600/100. I Hollywood it for a little while and eventually push it all in. He eventually calls with you guessed it 99. Before I could get “no Jack no Jack” out of my mouth it was already sitting where the turn card usually sits and I actually thought about shoving that rifle bullet up his a__. I have just taken a huge beat. If I would have won that hand it would have given me the chip lead with 25 left in the tourney, but NO!!! Now some guy who has an obsession with the NRA who spiked a 6-outer on me has a massive chip lead on the entire tourney field. I now have to come up with a new plan just to make the money. I’m back down $13K so I regroup and I start playing my game again. Blinds are now 500/1000/200, and I have to do something quick. I decided that if I made the money “Great”, but I am not playing to win a few dollars I want the first place prize of $5300. I raise about 70% of the hands and everyone would just fold. I was picking up every pot!! I was abusing the bubble like it should be done. I had almost every ante chip on the table. When the bubble busted I had close to $70K in chips. I went from $13K to $70K while we were on the bubble.

Revenge and the Final Table

We are now at the final table bubble and BJJIII must get revenge on NRA boy right? My thoughts exactly!!! I am in LP with A6 and raise the $1000 BB to $3500 and NRA boy makes it $5000. LOL MINRAISEAMENTS!!!! The flop of 6-10-4 rainbow is a good one for me and I plan on a check raise vs this NRA member, but he checks behind me. The turn is an Ace. I check planning on CRAI this time. He follows up on the bet this time with a nice healthy bet of $10K and I milk him for all he is worth and I finally announce that I am all-in. He shockingly doesn’t insta-call and I think that he is going to fold, but he finally ends up calling with AQ. This time when I say “no Q; no T; no Q; no T” the poker gods are listening and I am now the chip leader of the tourney going into the Final Table.

At the final table I slowed down a lot. I stole some blinds, but nothing like I was doing around bubble time. A couple of hands into the FT, with 8 people left I am in the BB and one guy open pushes from EP and the SB re-pushes to isolate, but too bad for him I look down at QQ offsuit. I make the patented Hellmuth call and I have to sweat A3 and AKo. The board bricks out and I have over half the chips in play with 6 to go. We knock out one more short stack and then a few orbits go around before this hand comes up.

I am no longer the chip leader due to one guy to my right just pounding the blinds and antes and I decide I need to quit being such a pansy. That guy that was doing all the raising and I were by far the best players at the table. It folds to the chip leader in the SB and he raises my BB of $6K to $20K, I look down at ATo and I immediately stuff my $120K in the pot and insist that I am all-in. He thinks for about 2 minutes and folds an Ace face up and said he had AJ, but I doubt it. After the hand was over and the dealer was pushing the chips my way I said, “You ain’t gonna to push me around, buddy!!!” After the hand we talked about a chop and I was more than willing, because I really didn’t want this thing to come down to an All-In Festival for all the money. The aggro guy and I both split the 1st and 2nd place money of $8K down the middle. We took $4K each and the other 3 players got $1205 apiece. They got screwed on the deal, but they agreed so I will take it.

This was only my 3rd live casino tourney and by far the biggest poker win of my poker career. I am mostly a cash game player, but I dip into tourneys when I am able.

And remember “Don’t be pushed around by anyone!!!!!!”

Good luck!

BJJIII

My fellow coworker (Landlord79) and I went over to Bossier City, LA to play some $1-$2 NL live poker this past weekend and the following is a session review/trip report from the weekend. Maybe he will post his review and we will have two different views of the same sessions.

We got over to the Horseshoe in Bossier at about 6 o’clock on Friday afternoon and after we checked into our hotel room at the ‘Shoe, which was at a discounted rate of $70 which is pretty good for a room on the weekend at the ‘Shoe, we headed on down to the poker room. We clocked in with the poker room manager and within 10 minutes we were sitting in seats 5 & 6 of a new table that was just being opened. The cards were in the air and our poker weekend was off and running.

Hand #3 at the table I am UTG and I immediately straddle, a couple guys limp and the SB makes it $20 to go. He had raised from the BB earlier and he ended up showing KQ off, good hand sir. BB smooth calls, I make it $50 straight with AQ-hearts on the straddle, both blinds call. Flop is A-J-X rainbow. Check, Check, I fire $60 at the pot and SB folds and the BB is thinking and thinking and thinking and then he goes AI, so I make a bad call and when the Q falls on the turn I think I just sucked out on him, but once the hand was over he showed me JJ for the set. Can someone say REBUY TABLE 10!!!!!! I am already one buyin down 3 hands into my session.

The next hand I call a raise with 6-7H in the BB and chased an OESD vs. the same douche that showed me the set. My straight missed and I tried to bluff the river and he looked me up. So within 4 hands into this session I am already down over $300 and I have only $180 left for the entire trip. BOY THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG TRIP.

So I rebuy what I have left in my pocket and I started playing screw tight. An orbit or so later the following hand comes up. I am in the CO or Highjack with a couple of limpers in the pot. I look down and see 10-10. I make it $17 to go and I get one caller from the blinds. Flop is J-10-x rainbow. YAHTZEEEEEEE!!! The blind leads out into me for $35, I smooth call. Blank on turn and we get it all in and he is drawing slim with J-10. River is not a Jack and I double up. AWESOME!!!

The very next hand, an EP guy makes $10-$15 to go and one guy calls I look down and see Q-Q. I bump it to $55 straight and both call. Flop is Qc-10c-4. The EP raiser open pushes for $87 the next guy cold calls and I obviously re-push with top set and the cold caller calls. The open pusher is drawing dead with QJ, cold caller had AK clubs and he misses his outs and I win a monster pot. SO MUCH FOR BEING STUCK!!!!

I now have $540 on the table, but I am in for $480, so I am ready to take an hour break and get some of my monies off the table. Landlord 79 and I cash out and I am UP $64 for my trip. We head over to the Eldorado Casino to see what is going on and what a crap hole. I promptly lose about $80 by just folding and folding after I get 3 bet OOP. I had to dump KQ and AQ from MP when the CO and Button re-raised me. DON’T EVER GO TO THE ELDORADO CASINO POKER ROOM.!!! Its gotta be one of the worst poker rooms in the world.

We cash out for night and head to bed at about 2:30am on Sat morning. We get up at 7:30 and shower and get down to the poker room at the ‘Shoe and try to get a hold of some of the drunks that are still playing from the night before and boy it didn’t take long.

I call a PF raise of $15 from a live player with 8-8, flop is Q-8-x and I get it all in on the blank turn vs. AQ. Its always fun getting it in when villain is drawing dead. After I bust the live one I change tables, and get on the same table with Landlord79. This $1-$2 table probably has close to 4.5K on it. I pretty much pick on the weak spots and chip up to about $450 or so and then the hand of all hand happens. This hand happens about an hour before we are set to leave.

As usual 7 players limp I am in the BB and look down and see the RED ROCKETS, I make it $20 to go and UTG+1 who calls and has me covered. The flop is K high all diamonds. UTG+1 has shown aggressive tendencies when checked to. Of course I check with the over pair and nut flush draw. She auto fires $60 at it and I smooth call. The turn is an off suit Q and I start to think to myself. Oh boy this could be bad. I check and she fires another $100 bet. I pushed AI to $355 with a check raise and once she didn’t insta-call I knew I was golden. She ended up finally calling $255 with you guessed it, A-Qd. Gosh you gotta love live poker!!!!!!!! Her 2 outer misses and I rake in a $900 pot. This is the biggest pot I have ever won and it must have taken me over 5 minutes to stack my chips. I play one more round and get up and head to the house.

I ended up winning about $900 during this trip and I can’t wait till we get to go again.