Playing Live At Cher-Ae

Haven't been playing at all, hence the lack of posts. I was up in Trinidad this past week, and played live two nights at the Cher-Ae Heights casino. It's 1-2 no-limit, with a $5 bring-in. I did well, booking a $300 win the first night and the $220 win the second night.

The very first hand of the first night, I limp (for $5) with AQ in the small blind. It's three or four handed to the flop ($15 or $20 in the pot), which is Qxx with two hearts. I lead for $10, an old guy raises to $25 or so in middle position and there is a cold call behind him by a guy who looks a bit like a beatnik (well, not really, but I need a label for him). It being the first hand of the night, I don't have any specific read on the raiser, but I generally have a healthy respect for raises from old guys at 1-2. The cold call is scary too, although it could just be a flush draw. I elect to call. Turn is the king of hearts which is probably the worst card in the deck for me. I check, old guy bets smallish (half pot perhaps), and the beatnik folds quickly (which puzzles me). I reluctantly fold. I felt very weak-tight at the time, but I felt better about it when the old guy didn't play another hand for two hours. I guess I put him on KQ or a set. I don't put him on the flush draw, because I don't think tight old guys like to semibluff. I talked to the beatnik at the end of the night and it turned out he had AQ as well.

Not much later, I limp in the blind with something like J9o. There were probably four or so players. Flop is something like AT8 with two hearts giving me an open-ender. I check call a half pot size bet from the beatnik making it heads-up to the turn. Not sure what I should be doing here. If I think my hand is worth calling with, maybe I should be leading? If I lead I expect to be called by a variety of hands, and I expect to give up most of the time. On the other hand, the same could be said for calling. I suppose there is some chance it checks through if I check. Anyhow, the turn is another ace, I check and he bets very small. He's giving me odds to draw, so I call. The river is the third heart. I don't put him on the flush draw - his turn bet is too small to be a bluff. So I lead out with a reasonable-size bet. It's a medium-size pot, but it's big enough that I think I can make a very scary flush-representing bet for substantially less than a pot-size bet. Unfortunately, he raised all-in and showed me the boat when I turbo-mucked. He congratulated me on a good fold (presuming I had the flush). Heh.

The big winning hand I remember from the first night was the following. I just called an early position raise with AA in middle position. I regretted my decision not to reraise when there ended up being four to the flop. The flop was a nice A44. I just called a smallish bet from the preflop raiser. The turn was a T and he checked to me. I bet smallish and he called. The river was another T and he check-called my all-in which was a moderate size bet. He had AQ. Not sure about the cold-call preflop, but the "slow play" post-flop (i.e., not raising the flop bet) is clearly correct. The stacks were short enough that I could get all the money in without a raise at any point.

There was another hand where I raised with KK and got a caller or two. I led the Q high flop with two of a suit and beatnik raised small. I called. Heads up to the turn which completes the flush draw. I decide to represent the flush and lead out with a medium-size bet. I guess this is good if I decide that I'm calling a bet if I check. He calls pretty quickly. On the river I think for a long time and check. He checks behind quickly, shows JJ, and MHIG. I think the long pause before checking is good. It looks like I'm thinking about whether a weak flush or a set is strong enough to bet. A quick check looks a lot weaker, and invites a bet that I cannot call.

On the second night, I got KK on my first and second hand. I raise preflop and get some callers. The flop is undercards with two of a suit. I bet (probably close to pot - don't really remember) and get one caller (I have position on him). The turn completes the flush draw and he leads out all-in for pot-size or maybe more. I think and call. The fact that he bets so big makes it look bluffy to me. People who make their flushes at this level typically bet small to get action. Also his age, physical appearance and behavior made me think he could be somewhat aggressive. Not to mention the fact that he was somewhat shortstacked at this point. Anyhow, he had T9 and my hand held up. (He might have held one of the flush suit, not sure.)

Shortly after I got KK again, raised and was called. A shortstack check-called my all-in on a low board with 99. In another not very interesting hand, I re-re-raised all-in to $120 or so with AK and won the race against QQ. Not sure if this is good. His reraising range could be as strong as AA-QQ. I wonder how I do if it's AA-JJ,AK. In the most favorable (to me) analysis, I could assume he folds JJ and AK. I should Pokerstove this.

I also made some bluffs that turned out badly. In one hand I bluff check-raised a board with two kings. My opponent had trip kings and made the call. I wonder how often he has trip kings as the action went down. (He checked the king high flop, bet the king on the turn and bet again on the river.) Probably pretty often.

In another hand, I called a reraise from a tight player with 66. We were deep-stacked; his remaining stack was about 10x the bet to me (plus there was some dead money in the pot and/or possible additional callers). I didn't set up on the flop, but called a bet under the new revised theory that he might have AK. He fired again big on the turn and I had to give up (he showed KK). I think the right action is to fold preflop. Not clear if my call preflop was good. This guy seemed to lay down good hands fairly often. It's not obvious he would have stacked off with his KK.

In another hand, I raised preflop with AT and was called from the blinds. I bet medium size on the T55 flop and was called. My opponent led out big on the blank turn. I didn't know what to make of the oversize bet, but I didn't think I could let go off TPTK based on one call and one bet. He'd been pretty active so I thought he could be bluffing. The river was another 5 and he led out again for two or three hundred dollars all-in which was pretty much the largest bet of the night. I thought about it before folding, but I'm not sure I needed to - this should be an easy fold. He showed KK afterwards.