Live Game Report : 10 Hour session

[mousey]

Well,

Yesterday I went to two casinos. About 2 hours at one and 8 at another. At the end of the night I am down 300$ on 3/6 limits. In order to get an idea of where I was playing there were some insanely crazy ass fish. Of which I can not even begin to describe. One guy at my table was so drunk, he dropped his cards mid hand and forgot he was in the hand. The dealer thought he mucked somewhere on the flop. One guy was eventually escorted off the tables for being rowdy by security. Another guy didn't know the game rules. He would constantly act out of turn. And consistently ask if there were more cards coming on the river. When the dealer would get to his turn he would always say his two options. "Check or bet 6." "Call 6 or fold". And whenver the dealer said a number the guy would just toss out those chips. I don't think he had the physical capacity to read the board.

As for the people were actually playing, there were 2 good players there. Sometimes 3. And we would all laugh to ourselves when we saw some of the shit go down. Some people were capping flop with 47s and others were capping with J4o. Literally. This one guy at my table never played before and reloaded about 3 times each time being 200$. The final straw was when someone didn't realize he wasn't in the hand and was still making plays. Like calling.

Basically I kept thinking to myself. I am in heaven.
So my strategy: play straight up. Nothing fancy. Ever. Get in with the best of it, but expect a lot of folding. And a lot of folding is what I did. I think I folded over 60$ in blinds because the donks with infinite gambling stacks would always 3 bet preflop.

Also people were live straddling certain people's blinds. Like mine, just to be assholes. They didn't take it overboard so I don't mind.

So here were my several big hands...

TT in BB. 3 limpers, raise, raise, raise, I call, and a few others call. It was 5 way capped preflop. Flop came up T 4 2 rainbowed. I check. Bet raise raise raise. I call. Everyone else calls. still 5 way. Board: T 4 2 5.
I check. Bet raise raise.. comes back to me and I cap. All call except one guy. One guy was all in at this point. Board: T 4 2 5 A. I check again, one bet, all calls. The people's hands were as follows: 42o, T3s, TT, and 56s.
Total pot: >200$.

I was in sb. and Utg straddles the blinds. I am dealt KK. 3 limps. I raise. And everyone calls. 2 J 4. I bet, got raised, callers were there with 1 fold, and I 3 bet it. Board: 2 J 4 8. I lead out betting again, and everyone calls. Board: 2 J 4 8 J. At this point in time I check. The guy after me asks the dealer if thats all the cards that are coming. The dealer tells him he has 2 options: check or bet. He bets, everyone calls. J3o, KK, A4,
Total Pot was > 150$.

AK, 4 way capped preflop. ( As I said before, at this place everyhand was pretty much capped preflop. ) Board: 2 9 J. I check, it was 3 betted and I call. Turn: 2 9 J 3. I check again and again its 3 betted. I fold. River came up T. Board: 2 9 J 3 T. Everyone checks river. KQ. QT. and I think it was a 55 or a 66.

AA in a raised pot in mp.. This wasn't capped but I think it was 6 handed. Flop came up: K 8 T. It is checked around to me and I bet. All calls around. Board: K 8 T 9. Utg now bets. And it gets to me I smooth call. Lp now reraises, and utg caps. I think hard for a while and muck AA. All called around. Now it was down to heads up or 3 people Can't remember. Board: K 8 T 9 T. Utg bets and called around. KJ v AK are shown. @#$@#)%@#)%(@#)(%@#)(%@#(%)(

That was the problem with playing against so many donks. Is that you are often chased out of pots. Of the combined 5 AA and KK hands I had. One held up on a semi small pot. I folded 1. And got rivered on all the others.

I was involved in about 7 capped preflop hands with semi strong hands like 99 and AQs. I missed a lot of set opportunities but I took down a good 10 pots with top pairs on limped hands like JK and QK. But not enough to recover my massive pot losses. Eventually I pushed an AJ on the turn to an A 9 5 board. Turn was T. I figured him on AT but I only had 1-2 raises left and threw them down. Someone showed AT and the third person had 55. FUCK !

Overall down 300$.
I took the 300$ out of my online BR so I could start a live BR for practicing live games more. I don't regret any hands that i was involved in so I was feeling pretty good about myself. I folded a lot of good reads thanks to reading mike caro's body language of poker acquired at christmas. I was feeling proud of myself despite being down so much.

For those of you who play live games, what portion do you spend on your live game? And what is a recommended BR to start setting aside to play live games with the same precision as you do online?

[biggle10]

"Check or bet 6." "Call 6 or fold". And whenver the dealer said a number the guy would just toss out those chips.

I see this all the time. I love it, but its frustrating when you see players like this or have a table full of them and you still can't win.

For those of you who play live games, what portion do you spend on your live game? And what is a recommended BR to start setting aside to play live games with the same precision as you do online?

300BB. The TT hand would have given me a stroke.

[snickers99]

Sorry for your tough night!

For those of you who play live games, what portion do you spend on your live game? And what is a recommended BR to start setting aside to play live games with the same precision as you do online?

I'm probably not going to give you the answers that you want, but I'll tell you what I do. I really don't have a 'live' bankroll. I don't get to play live much, so all I do is bring money that I know I can lose. Since I play 2/4 limit, I count on $100 per the number of session I think I'm going to be able to play. For example, my recent poker trip to Canada, I figured I would be able to play three times, so I made sure I save up $300 that I could blow if it came down to that. If it's just a quick day trip, then I bring $100 for poker. That said, I do have a spreadsheet where I keep track of my live play...where, how long I played, what limit, and + or - along with a running total. And it is seperate from my online bankroll. If Pennsylvania ever gets off their ass and offers poker rooms, then I would probably set up a bankroll for live play like I did with online.

[mousey]

Rough night? Oh no it was a blast. I came so close to walking out of there +300$ minnimum. I just had a bad miracle card come against me 3 times. But that can only happen few times. The next time I go, if I play against that same kind of crowd, its gonna mean money. Good money too!

I am happy because compared to when I first played 6 months ago, I see more things than I used to and noticed everything. I sense sets easier and spot the commont two pairs more often. I know how to get to river with maximum card draw now. Ie: raising flop an un unpaired 2-3 way pot on button with AK to get a free turn check. Or raising turn for value to get a river check. NOTHING was a surprise to me. Nothing broke my will power, and the goading fish couldn't crack my tight game shell. I didn't give away my strength and extracted well on the pots I did hit.
And when I wanted to I could make the people who were in the hand with me were UNCOMFTORABLE. I would induce people to double check their cards at times. And I am more physically composed at the table. Less shaking, less adrenaline spikes on a 6 way action set pot. More objective and patient than I used to be. So it was awesome progress.

Like I said I was feeling good about myself. Well I don't play live seriously. But I have taken out 100-200$ from time to time, never keeping track of my winnings / losses. Usually goto a restaurant afterwards and use the cash to buy dinner.

I was just curious especially those who are going to vegas, if you keep track of the BR like you do online. I think I might save up a good 1k over the next few months to try my hand out in a few more live games. Meaning if I win there, I set it aside and not spend it. rofl. Too bad you can't magically deposit money back into an account.

I think I might make a side bank account strictly for this purpose. What is the nickname of accounts like this again? 601?

[mousey]

Yeah a lot of people there were treating the game like it was a high stakes slot machine. They knew each round would mean x$. But they LOVED and I mean ABSOLUTELY LOVED the thrill of the dealer pushing all the chips to them ! One guy didn't even knew he had the winning hand when the dealer gave it to him. ROFL !!

Ironically Biggle, I didn't feel much frustration. More like, "O well, will have to wait for next time"

[snickers99]

Rough night? Oh no it was a blast.

Oops! Ok, how about 'glad you had a good time'?

[goofyballer]

AK, 4 way capped preflop. ( As I said before, at this place everyhand was pretty much capped preflop. ) Board: 2 9 J. I check, it was 3 betted and I call.

I think that's your cue to bounce out of that hand.

[miamipuck]

Mousey,

Great post! I only wish your IM's were so composed. Wow there was no cursing or threats to mame the donks corpses this is wonderful. I think you are progressing. What next you will walk upright?

Do you think you can model your IM's after this post?

BTW, This is the exact reason I do not play live. 7-8 people to the river in capped betting. I think the majority of these people are some mad scientists experiment in putting a chimps brain into a human body. I think I saw one eating his own poop. Of course this was after cold calling a 4 bet with the hammer (2-7os).

[mervhage]

I know this has been beaten to death, but have you ever read Small Stakes hold 'em (sklansky et al)?

If not, it presents quite a few concepts that are applicable and may help you profit a little extra.

Biggle, the TT hand may have caused me to brought on formal charges for first degree murder, this is not a joke...

[mousey]

merv, love that book. I even bought the holdem for advanced players. REad both books twice. Rereading small stakes now. Reading and studying too.

[puckhead23]

Biggle, the TT hand may have caused me to brought on formal charges for first degree murder, this is not a joke...

If I was you, I'd certainly be making this post while out on bail. Unless, that is, wireless internet is offered at the holding center. There is only one ray of hope to hands like these, is you'll beat these freaks in the long run for a lot of money.

One of the problems at the limit table is that they don't seem to allow UTG raises. The first action taken at the table must be a call (at least at the Seneca casinos in Western New York). If there was even a chance that trash hands could be folded, it would be more likely to a raise.