I’m in Las Vegas! I arrived Thursday night and played my first event, the Monster Stack, on Friday morning. It was great starting with 300BBs and the value was clear to see, but unfortunately I took a big hit early that really hindered my ability to take advantage of the deep stacks (not that they lasted for more than a few hours anyway).
Blinds were still 25/50, and I opened to 150 with Kc Qc in the HJ. The CO, SB, and BB all called.
The flop came 975 with two clubs, and the blinds checked. I certainly wouldn’t just c-bet arbitrarily into three opponents here, but with two overs and a flush draw, it’s an easy bet. I bet 450, and only the CO called.
The 2h turned, and on such a blank card, I think he’s more or less capped out at one pair, maybe TT or JJ at best and almost always weaker than that, so it’s a great spot for me to bombs away. I bet 1500, and he quickly called. The fact that he didn’t even consider raising made me even more certain that the didn’t have two-pair or a set.
So, I didn’t have to sweat a full house on the 9c river. I also didn’t think he’d call the turn with bare flush draws, at least not so quickly, so the only better hands in his range figured to bet Ac 8c and Ac 6c. I expected him to have T9 and 98 more frequently, and be unable to fold trips. I bet 4000, and he called with Ac 8c.
Nothing of great interest happened after that. I got a double up with AQ by convincing my opponent to spaz with 77 on a Q9xxx board.
Once I was down to 20 blinds, I wasn’t getting any shoving spots. Mostly my cards were bad, but also there was a guy with a big stack on my right who’d decided that he should play more than half the hands he was dealt. I’m honestly not sure he was joking/posturing when he wondered out loud whether he should call my 11BB UTG shove blind (I had AJo, and he folded).
A few hands later he opened to 1100 on the button, which it was really hard for me to imagine him folding a button, so I had a pretty easy shove for 5K or so with 22 in the SB. He called with A4o to bust me.
After the tournament I went and hung out with Carlos for a bit at the Tournament Poker Edge booth, then decided to check out the cash game scene at the Rio.
It truly does seem to get worse there every year. Now there are no chip runners (which, I realize, may not be their fault, but it sucks either way), which means that when they open a new game it takes a long time to start because people have to go wait in line at the cage, buy chips, then take them to the table, and of course no one wants to sit at the table waiting for others to show up, and certainly not come over from an already-running game to get the new one started, so it’s just a slow process and I can only imagine that the most impulsive (ie most desirable to have at your table) players are not sticking around for all that.
My first table was pretty boring, everyone seemed decent enough and the average stack was less than $2K, which is quite small for an uncapped $5/$10.
I was about to quit when my table change came through and I landed at a new table where my $6500 made me just the third largest stack! Had there been chip runners, I would have added on, but as it was I decided just to make do with 650 big blinds.
It was a fun game, nobody spewing but nobody playing particularly good deep-stacked poker, and I was winning solidly. Then, literally the hand before I was going to quit:
I open 22 to $40 UTG (believe we were 7-handed at the time), and four people call. The flop comes K72r. I bet $150, and only the button called. I had about $7500 at the time, and she covered me.
The turn was another K. I checked, figuring a check-raise could get more money in against a K and also give her a chance to bluff/protection bet weaker hands. She checked behind.
The river card was something small (not a 2!), and with $500 in the pot, I threw out a $1K chip. Overbetting was not unprecedented for me, and none of those hands had yet gone to showdown.
She asked if that was a $500 chip, the dealer told her it was $1000, and then she nodded and said, “All in.” Faced with calling $6K to win $8500, I really don’t think is a tough fold at all. I’m uncapped, which means I have both nut hands and better bluff-catchers, not that I would expect to see many bluffs here anyway.
Even though that basically wiped out my profit for the night, I quit feeling pretty good about myself. Among other things, I probably would have lost my ass if she’d bet the turn!
For some crazy reason the Monster Stack is not a re-entry, so I’m just going to play cash tonight, probably at Bellagio, and then hit up the $1K Turbo WSOP event tomorrow morning.
What did the guy spaz with on the Q9xxx?
More evidence for the “nothing good happens pre-ante” theorem.
Whoops, I edited – he had 77. I 3-bet pre, we both checked flop, he check-raised turn and shoved river for like 1/4 pot.
In the first hand, flush over flush, what adjustments can one make when playing deep against passive recs, where you’ll often get 3+ callers?
Is a larger open size appropriate?
I don’t know that this is specific to playing against recs. If people are making excessively loose calls, then sure, raise bigger to extract that most when you have a range advantage, but it’s simply correct for players with position to call a fair bit when stacks are deeper, because they benefit not only from the strength of their hand but also their position. It’s not uncommon to see 4- or 5-way pots in a tough, deep-stacked game, either.
In general, when opening early position, especially when at all deep, you should be focused on hands that will play well OOP post-flop, including in multi-way pots. That means a focus on cards that are large, suited, and/or connected, and thereby have the potential to turn into hands that can win at showdown in multi-way pots, or apply pressure with semi-bluffs even into multiple opponents. This hand is actually a good illustration: even though this isn’t a flop that particularly favors me as the PFR, I was still able to make what I think are profitable flop and turn bets because I had two overs and a flush draw.
Learning how to play multiway pots is really the best adjustment 😉
On the set of 2s, you don’t think someone could play AK or KQ this way? It seems like if they wanted a call with Four of a kind or a bigger full house she would have bet less, no? 4 kings seems unlikely since she did not reraise from the button.
“you don’t think someone could play AK or KQ this way?”
No.
“It seems like if they wanted a call with Four of a kind or a bigger full house she would have bet less, no?”
What if she expected me to think that? Unfortunately, poker isn’t as simple as “big bets are bluffs, small bets are for value”.
@Larry
IMHO if Villain is betting for value, then I would say that Hero is almost definitely behind. Given the size of Villain’s bet, bottom full house is really only a bluff catcher. IMO Hero would have to calculate (based on history, reads etc) whether there will be enough bluffs in Villain’s range to make calling profitable. As Andrew says, he’s faced with calling $6000 to win $8,500.00, So he’s really getting only 1.4 to 1 on the call. I just can’t see Villain bluffing often enough to justify the call. 7-7 is probably most likely, along with K-7 suited.
Andrew, regarding the 22 hand, what’s the bottom of your value range here to bet 1k into a pot of 500?
Haha, reading this reminded me of the one and only time I got to go to Vegas… I had a monster stack, specifically $10,000 after I’d started with $3000. I left the MGM with exactly $42 at around 2AM, drunk and on the verge of tears.
Oh well, all in a nights experience 😀 I’ll never forget Vegas. Sadly, the flights from Ireland are a little expensive and I’ll probably not be able to get back for a while.
Great blog by the way, I’m just poking around as I’ve just discovered it now.
Thanks! And welcome.
UTG 4x open 7 handed on K72Kx (x = 3456), you have one combo of KK, then 77 and 22 and that’s it for FHes? Button obviously can have Kxs but it feels pretty weird to 2x pot river and then fold, you think players are as happy to call that with any K? Seems like a polarising range, but then you are bet/folding the value part … not that I think you can beat any sane raising range.
I’m not sure what your conclusion is here?