Atypical Night at the Muck
If I had to script a return back to poker at the higher limits(for me) that I play, last night would not have been it. It was a VERY Atypical night down at the Muck. I arrived down there last night to see a massive list for the $30/60 and $50/100 games going. There were about twenty names on the $50 list which is just unheard of normally. I was about 14th on the list for the $50 game and about 5th on the $30 game. I resigned myself that I was not going to get in right away so I figured I would catch up with a few players I had not seen in about a month or so.
I finally get into the $30 game after about 40 minutes of hanging around, and the game is just nutty. It was playing like a $4/8 game, and was even worse than the $8/16 game I was goofing around in last Friday night at Parkers. This game was seeing 5,6,7 way flops for raises, and the same number for limps. The pots were just huge and no one was laying hands down. All passive players with the exception of Barry, who I have mentioned before in this Blog. This was not the game to jump right into after taking 6 weeks off. Too much thinking, and too much variance. It was very hard to hang on to a hand as with that many people in the pots you were getting odds to draw to everything, and everyone was. There were a few that were just plain playing every hand to the river and seeing if they could make a draw, hell just a pair, even if they were not getting the correct odds. For example, a pot that I was not involved in, but was just so stupid I had to put it up here was typical of what was going on.
I actually had the BB, UTG raises with AJ he said, two callers behind him, and Barry on the Button 3 bets. Now with that many people in the pot it could only have been two hands KK's, or AA's. He had AA's, I knew that his hand was huge out of the BB and insta mucked my hand, even though I was getting pretty good odds to put money into that pot. All players call. $405 in the pot preflop!! Flop comes down 6,6,4 one heart. UTG I think bets out two other players call, and Barry raises, UTG mucks, two middle players call. $615 in pot. Turn a 5 of hearts. Two players check, Barry bets. Both call. River the 8 of hearts. First players bets out, second calls, and Barry mucks his cards face up in disgust. Barry was nice enough to point out in my comments that he did in fact muck and not call as I had originally put in here at first, thanks for correcting me. First player had K,9 hearts for flush??? Second had 7,4 off for the straight, and Barry's AA's go from first to third on the river. Now that is just STUPID, only outs on the flop for these two were runner runner for K,9 and two outs to the 4, or runner runner and both got there. What the hell was 7,4 off doing in the pot to begin with calling two raises. Just nutty I tell ya. Must of thought he was playing blackjack, SWEEEET I got eleven, double down for $90. OUCH, send the $705 to mister K,9. This game continued to just be up and down. I was up then I buried myself when I called Barry's early raise with pocket 66's and we saw a five way flop again. Flop came A,Q,6. Perfect, I thought. Barry bet out, I raised, one other caller, Barry flat calls. Turn pairs the A, Barry checks, I bet, other calls, I now put him on just a naked A so Barry can't have AA's, maybe A,K, or A,Q which I am buried on, Barry now raises, I three bet, other player calls and now Barry caps. I should have mucked right there. I now know he has A,Q or QQ's. There is so much money in the pot I call the last bet and even say out loud that I have one out. River a blank and Barry bets out, I have no idea why but I call that last bet too and so does the other player. I gave Barry an extra $120 for no reason whatsoever, your welcome. In hindsight I should have just mucked the 66's preflop as Barry is not going to raise in early position in this game with anything I can beat, I am either 50% heads up which I knew was not going to be the case in this game with all the players calling preflop, or I was a huge underdog to an over pair. Stupid call preflop and it cost me a pile of money. My Bad. I actually made it to the $50 game even after two hours of play and was prepared to try and play better over there.
So what happens when I get to the $50 game. The game that had a list of 20 people just two hours earlier, it gets short, then it gets shorter, and after about 30 minutes of me getting there is gets to three handed?? What?? It is down to me, Barry, and Pete. Not exactly the game I was looking for. Both solid players, and three handed. Once again a big variance game for even more money against good players, and after 6 weeks off not really a spot where I wanted to play. Short handed you are playing lots of hands, you can't play tight, and there is lots of post flop reading and moves being made. I am not warmed up for this, I am rusty, and I get put in the pressure cooker on my first day back. This could be a disaster, but I am not ready to go home at 8:00pm. I manage to hold my own, we pick up a 4th player, then a 5th who was really bad, and the 4th was not a whole lot better so now it is a better game. I then proceed to go on a good rush and make some good hands hold, hit some flops and suck out on one big hand when I had KK's vs. Barry's AA's. I also had AA's cracked by K,Q off, made the nut flush with A,Q on the river only to find out I ran into a full house when the final flush card paired the board and cost me $300 on the river and a $1000 pot. So I was not running that great. Just a very weird night.
At the high I am up around $5,000 and then proceed to just go card dead. We bust the 5th player and are now back to 4 handed. The blinds are coming fast, and I am getting nothing to play. I miss everything I try to play, and don't win a hand for over an hour. I have seen this movie before and even though it was early I know it is time to quit. I wanted to book a win my first time back, and I just had this feeling if I stayed it might not get any better, and short handed you can give it all back in hurry. If it would have been a full or close to full ring game you can protect your chips better, and just hide out. 4 handed there is no hiding, and if you are not going to play aggressive, then you should just not play, so I did not. I ended up the night $3,117 to the good happy to book a win.
I hope that I continue to run well for the next few months as I am due and it is getting close to WSOP time. I will spend the next month warming up for WSOP play, and building up my bankroll. Hope you are winning and I will talk to you soon. It is good to be back....SJ
I finally get into the $30 game after about 40 minutes of hanging around, and the game is just nutty. It was playing like a $4/8 game, and was even worse than the $8/16 game I was goofing around in last Friday night at Parkers. This game was seeing 5,6,7 way flops for raises, and the same number for limps. The pots were just huge and no one was laying hands down. All passive players with the exception of Barry, who I have mentioned before in this Blog. This was not the game to jump right into after taking 6 weeks off. Too much thinking, and too much variance. It was very hard to hang on to a hand as with that many people in the pots you were getting odds to draw to everything, and everyone was. There were a few that were just plain playing every hand to the river and seeing if they could make a draw, hell just a pair, even if they were not getting the correct odds. For example, a pot that I was not involved in, but was just so stupid I had to put it up here was typical of what was going on.
I actually had the BB, UTG raises with AJ he said, two callers behind him, and Barry on the Button 3 bets. Now with that many people in the pot it could only have been two hands KK's, or AA's. He had AA's, I knew that his hand was huge out of the BB and insta mucked my hand, even though I was getting pretty good odds to put money into that pot. All players call. $405 in the pot preflop!! Flop comes down 6,6,4 one heart. UTG I think bets out two other players call, and Barry raises, UTG mucks, two middle players call. $615 in pot. Turn a 5 of hearts. Two players check, Barry bets. Both call. River the 8 of hearts. First players bets out, second calls, and Barry mucks his cards face up in disgust. Barry was nice enough to point out in my comments that he did in fact muck and not call as I had originally put in here at first, thanks for correcting me. First player had K,9 hearts for flush??? Second had 7,4 off for the straight, and Barry's AA's go from first to third on the river. Now that is just STUPID, only outs on the flop for these two were runner runner for K,9 and two outs to the 4, or runner runner and both got there. What the hell was 7,4 off doing in the pot to begin with calling two raises. Just nutty I tell ya. Must of thought he was playing blackjack, SWEEEET I got eleven, double down for $90. OUCH, send the $705 to mister K,9. This game continued to just be up and down. I was up then I buried myself when I called Barry's early raise with pocket 66's and we saw a five way flop again. Flop came A,Q,6. Perfect, I thought. Barry bet out, I raised, one other caller, Barry flat calls. Turn pairs the A, Barry checks, I bet, other calls, I now put him on just a naked A so Barry can't have AA's, maybe A,K, or A,Q which I am buried on, Barry now raises, I three bet, other player calls and now Barry caps. I should have mucked right there. I now know he has A,Q or QQ's. There is so much money in the pot I call the last bet and even say out loud that I have one out. River a blank and Barry bets out, I have no idea why but I call that last bet too and so does the other player. I gave Barry an extra $120 for no reason whatsoever, your welcome. In hindsight I should have just mucked the 66's preflop as Barry is not going to raise in early position in this game with anything I can beat, I am either 50% heads up which I knew was not going to be the case in this game with all the players calling preflop, or I was a huge underdog to an over pair. Stupid call preflop and it cost me a pile of money. My Bad. I actually made it to the $50 game even after two hours of play and was prepared to try and play better over there.
So what happens when I get to the $50 game. The game that had a list of 20 people just two hours earlier, it gets short, then it gets shorter, and after about 30 minutes of me getting there is gets to three handed?? What?? It is down to me, Barry, and Pete. Not exactly the game I was looking for. Both solid players, and three handed. Once again a big variance game for even more money against good players, and after 6 weeks off not really a spot where I wanted to play. Short handed you are playing lots of hands, you can't play tight, and there is lots of post flop reading and moves being made. I am not warmed up for this, I am rusty, and I get put in the pressure cooker on my first day back. This could be a disaster, but I am not ready to go home at 8:00pm. I manage to hold my own, we pick up a 4th player, then a 5th who was really bad, and the 4th was not a whole lot better so now it is a better game. I then proceed to go on a good rush and make some good hands hold, hit some flops and suck out on one big hand when I had KK's vs. Barry's AA's. I also had AA's cracked by K,Q off, made the nut flush with A,Q on the river only to find out I ran into a full house when the final flush card paired the board and cost me $300 on the river and a $1000 pot. So I was not running that great. Just a very weird night.
At the high I am up around $5,000 and then proceed to just go card dead. We bust the 5th player and are now back to 4 handed. The blinds are coming fast, and I am getting nothing to play. I miss everything I try to play, and don't win a hand for over an hour. I have seen this movie before and even though it was early I know it is time to quit. I wanted to book a win my first time back, and I just had this feeling if I stayed it might not get any better, and short handed you can give it all back in hurry. If it would have been a full or close to full ring game you can protect your chips better, and just hide out. 4 handed there is no hiding, and if you are not going to play aggressive, then you should just not play, so I did not. I ended up the night $3,117 to the good happy to book a win.
I hope that I continue to run well for the next few months as I am due and it is getting close to WSOP time. I will spend the next month warming up for WSOP play, and building up my bankroll. Hope you are winning and I will talk to you soon. It is good to be back....SJ
posted by Seattlejohn at 8:48 AM
3 Comments:
SJ - Good having you back yesterday, we'd missed having you around. Just a couple of corrections on your play-by-play from above:
1) I did not overcall when the Kh9h bet the river and the 74o called. I mucked my AA face-up saving the bet.
2) In the QQ vs. 66 hand, I bet the flop, you raised, the A3o called and I called. I then checked the turn, you bet, A3o called, I raised, you re-raised, A3o still called, I capped. You then remarked you had one out...I bet the river and you called as did the A3o.
Mucking on the river against a known player would have been the proper play but it cost you $60 for a shot at taking the wrong read or me making a play. Extremely unlikely in that spot but you never know. I think your pre-flop call is fine in that type of game, you just got a really bad flop. While you would never play the 66 that way in our $50/$100 game, in that particular $30/$60 game, we were seeing flops 6 & 7 ways most of the time regardless of the # of bets pre-flop. You are getting the right odds to see the flop hoping to catch the right card.
It was great to see you back in form. Thanks for sweating me on that one hand - and not giving me crap for wasting that last bet on the river.
Just a few more wins and I WILL take that seat in the 50 game. I meant it when I said I wanted to earn my way in there.
-DrC
Thanks Barry and Dr. Chako for stopping by. It was good to see everyone. Barry corrected some of my facts for me and I have fixed them in the Blog. I guess I am a bit rusty at remembering hands as well.
I still think I should have mucked the 66's preflop even though Barry thinks it is an ok play. Barry is not going to raise UTG or UTG+1 in that game with anything that 66 is going to beat. When you add in the fact that we were going to see the flop with 4 or more players it make my chances to win even worse. I just got unlucky and hit the flop. It would have been an easy laydown on a flop of A,Q,4.
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