Vegas November 2014

Day 3 - Back to Aria

Last Updated: 2014-11-11 12:01:27

Not the best day for me on Monday. Definitely not the kind of finish I had hoped for.

Hit the Aria buffet for lunch, then headed down to the poker room. My lack of cards continued, it was two hours and ten minutes before I saw my first pocket pair. I had gotten down to about 3400 chips from my starting stack of 10K, which isn't good, but got no callers on one all-in after a couple of limpers and had gotten back to 4500. Then two hands later I finally got that pocket pair.

Aces!

No action. I raise out, everyone folds. Of course. Only raise I made in that 2+ hours that got respected.

3 hands later tho, aces again! I more than double up (it was a three way pot, with about 7K already in it they folded to my 2K shove at the end). Then 2-3 hands after that pocket jacks and all of a sudden, in less than 10 hands I believe, I'm back up over 12K. But a few hands after that I give some back with 9's. I raise out UTG or UTG+1, I get one caller but then an over-the-top all-in. I seriously think about calling, but I give it up and the other guy calls. As it turns out, that reraise saved me, at least for a little while.

A-K vs JJ. Good laydown, right?

9 in the door. But also a Jack on the flop! If that guy doesn't reraise me I'm broke on that flop.

But it was all downhill from there anyway. Blinds started getting steep, I wasn't winning a lot of pots, lost another chunk on a short stack all in call with AK that missed and in the space of about two rounds (60 minutes) I had gone from 3400 to 12000 to 4500. I got in on a flip and he caught his ace. Oh well.

So I decided to try a little PLO cash. That didn't go much better.

Not too long after I sat down, in the big blind I call a small raise with 4-6-7-9. There are 5 players, flop comes 3-5-7 rainbow. Wow! So I have a nut straight, but there are actually a lot of bad cards for me so I don't want to go too crazy. I decide I'm going to just check and consider a check-raise if someone bets out. Unfortunately nobody did.

Queen on the turn, I bet pot, I get one caller. 7 on the river, I check, call the value bet and he rolls over pocket queens for a full house...of course he does. Oh well. So that was about 1/2 my buyin, I did get some back on a few pots here and there. But I lost it all on a tough hand.

7-8-9-9 with two suits, I call a small preflop raise. Flop comes A-Q-x with two diamonds. It checks around. Turn is a 9. I bet almost pot, I get one caller. River is an 8, which completes a straight. I push all in trying to represent a straight, but thinking I can't possibly be up against a better set because nobody slow-plays in Omaha, right?

Well he goes in the tank, thinks a long time, makes the call and rolls over aces. Damn.

So on to the 7:00 and things started out pretty much the same. I got lucky trying to represent a flush when all I had was a second-nut flush draw and a gutshot (so a lot of outs!), got all the chips in and caught the straight! Dude called me with two pair on a board with a 3-flush. I actually built my stack up around 18K at the first break, which may have been my biggest stack in four tournaments at Aria.

Unfortunately that again was my high point. Soon after the break I lost 1/3 of it on A-K vs QQ. I ended up losing the rest of it on a 3-barrell bluff. Usually I'm very good at being aware of the players around me but this time it was a classic case of both failing to understand someone didn't play a hand the way I would and also trying to bluff someone who wasn't smart enough to fold.

Under the gun player wasn't overly aggressive, but he definitely had a pretty wide range to open with a raise. He's just to my left. So he raises, it folds around to me and I call preflop with Q-J suited (clubs) in the big blind. Flop comes Kd-9d-5c. I decide that if the guy doesn't have A-K I can probably rep a king so I lead out, plus I have a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw. He just calls.

Turn is another small club. So I now have a flush draw and a gutshot, so a lot of outs. There are two flush draws on the board plus several gutshot draws. Point is, this is an incredibly draw-heavy board but no draws have gotten there yet.

I bet out again for 1/4 or so of my stack. He calls. River is an offsuit jack, which gives me a pair but obviously can't beat a lot. But it does complete one of the many draws. I'm thinking there's no way he can have just top pair, SURELY he would have gone back over the top of me at some point with all those draws out there if that was all he had, right?

I go all in.

He asks for a count, he barely has me covered...he tanks a little...and he makes the crying call and rolls over A-K of spades.

Oh well.

I think he played the hand very poorly. First I don't see how he could have not protected his hand on the turn if he thought he had the best hand. Way too much out there to just call down with top pair.

Given his tank at the end, he had to think I had something more than what I had. And given how I played the hand, even if I didn't hit some draw I was on all he could possibly put me on was A-K for a chop (big risk for his tournament life), K-Q that he beats, K-J or K-9 for a miracle flop or a miracle river. Maybe K-10. At least that's what I was representing.

I guess I'll never know if in his mind he was trying to bluff catch or he just wasn't capable of laying down top-pair, top-kicker. I'm feeling pretty sure it was the latter. You can't bluff someone who isn't smart enough to fold :-)

So that's it for this trip. Definitely happy about my cash at Venetian, but not much else went right for me this time. Hopefully I'll be able to get in a spring trip.