Well over the last few weeks I have been pleasantly surprised at the still strong Dallas Poker Scene. Sure Its not the booming industry that it once was. And sure the games are 1-2 tables instead of 6. But They are still out there. I am also surprised at some of the rooms that I once thought shut down are still going strong in their old locations or just down the block from their old locations.
You maybe asking yourself hey Tommy why the F#*k didnt you already know this? well the truth i that I have been out of the scene for sometime, and am forced back into it by rising gas prices and my goal of making 10k playing 1-2nl. Gas Prices make it unfeasible for me to drive to Winstar several times a week, not to mention the 2 hours of drive time round trip.
I cant give you more details surrounding the rooms that are still open but I can say they are still out there.
Its a great strategy, why else would i constantly put it into play?
I went and played in another room tonight.1-2nl in a very loose aggressive room. not much to say besides it was another night where a suckout cost me having a big win.
Not that you want to hear the bad beat story but I will tell it anyway in a short version. I get KK on the button. someone straddled. 5 limpers. I make it 20. the straddler called and so did the 5 limpers… great seeing the damn flop 7 way. Flop was 2s-6h-4h. everyone checks to me … I bet 50. straddler check raises all in.everyone folds. I think for a while … it was another $141 for me to call. so 140 in preflop +50(my bet) plus + $50 call +141 more.. .grand total of around $380 pot + my 141….$500+ pot. I decide the idiot and well he was an idiot. I mean really in a game as loose and fast as this game and you are straddling? yep to me its the definition of idiot. and well alot of times I can just look at a fool and tell he is stupid and a gambler. So I made the executive decision to call, and yep he has a flush draw and bottom pair … called that $20 bet preflop and check raised all in with 2-9 of hearts. what a genius. and you guessed it the turn was a K which is exciting except it was the K of hearts. Good job dumbass you out played me. while on the flop its roughly 50-50 …why the fuck are you in the hand to begin with 2-9? I mean really. and why doesnt my full house complete on the river ? Oh cause I dont have luck.
Anyway I ended up winning some chips back and cashed out up $165. which is a win. but its a small win compared to my $400 losses.in my little trek to 10k playing 1-2 I have yet to cash out for more than my big losses. and it eats at me.
I think that tommorrow I will take the day off from playing. The MSPC is happening this weekend, it will be a long grueling tournament. I will likely lose early on to a suckout or just two big hands clashing and will get up got eat a hot dog and chill out for a while, then chopz will forever talk about how i threw a tantrum at the MSPC, when all i did was leave the table after getting knocked out. good times.
So I had a late session last night. Most of this was brought on by a player that was relatively new to the game that had acquired alot of chips early on…. who did he acquire them from ? me of course, and I just had to get them back.
I was playing 1-2nl at a local underground room, things were going well I started with 180 and had worked it ups to over $600, I had gotten lucky and played a few draws and caught a few cards. In general the players at the table liked to over play their top pair on the flop. So if you had two overs and a open ended straight draw or flush draw you had to consider your overs very much live.
The first hand that I would like to discuss came when i was back down around 470-500 in chips. I get q-6 diamonds in the cut off. It is limped around to me so I limp, the BB raises to 7, he is a very loose aggressive player that likes to build pots. He has the money to waste as he is a lawyer and in general has a disregard for putting his money in way behind. so everyone that limped calls, I call also. One of the players tells the dealer to “please pick me”, I reply with “no you should pick me instead”. And boy did he pick me. Flop Q-Q-6 two hearts. SAWEEEEET! I can just see a huge pot coming my way. it checks around to me I check also hoping that someone catches a flush on the turn. the turn is a J of clubs. it checks around to an older gentleman on my right, he bets $10. I pretty much didn’t know what to put him on except maybe the Jack. I just call not wanting to scare anyone off, well 2 other guys call as well, the SB and a guy in mid/early position, (actually davidn on the forums). The river gets peeled off and everyone checks to me …. I think and bet 40,the player that was new to the game makes a speech and asks me if i got lucky with ace king etc. I immediately put him on having a hand and likely having k-10 for the straight. He raises me 100, davidn immediately pushes all in for 400… I am excited and baffled by all of this. I am thinking man did someone else have the other Q and hit a higher full house and slow play it like I did? are both of these people playing straights? no one re-raised preflop or raised preflop that was currently in the hand. so I didn’t put david on a-q as he would have raised preflop and thus also didn’t put him on a big pocket pair. The only hand that he could have had was Q-J or K-Q. I think for a while and begrudgingly call cause I have that night seen him make some loose plays I am hoping that he has K-Q. After I call the new guy calls for less, I was expecting the guy to call cause he only had like 100 back but the quickness in which he called concerned me at this point. Davidn turns over K-10 for the nut straight. I turnover my full house and the new guy slow rolls Q-J … a higher full house. After the dust clears I end up with like 270 in chips. I am glad that I have something left but disappointed that I didn’t just fold. After replaying the hand in my head I couldn’t have possibly been ahead, someone else had to of had a boat on the river with all that action, and I just couldn’t let mine go. What I did take away from that hand was that our new bigstack at the table liked to give speeches when he had not just a strong hand but a very strong hand.
After an hour or so people start to get knocked out and or just leave as it got closer to midnight, I had seen the speech etc several times from the new player and had seen him bluff numerous times on the river with no pair. Not only no pair but he called down with no draw just things like Ace high and was waiting for the other player to just check to him so he could bluff at it. So I felt like I had a read on a guy that I could outplay.
i was close to 1am when another few players left and we were extremely short handed , 4 players, I was expecting he game to break but the dealers kept dealing and actually announced that the game would now change to a 2-5 game. I was a little surprised at this but I felt that I had enough of an advantage that I could capitalize. at this point I had around $400 the new player had $700 another player had $300 and the 4th player had $27. I also feel that my shorthanded game is vastly superior to those that are currently sitting at the table. So to give you the layout of the table. I have decent player fairly tight with $300 in the 1 seat. I am in the 2 seat, $27 gambler in the 3 seat and the new guy in the 4 seat. I pick up AA raise to 15, I look at the new guy and he was getting ready to reraise out of turn when the $27 gambler pushes all in. The new guy thinks then actually folds. I was disappointed and sort of blamed(though not his fault) the gambler for blowing my action. The gambler turns over QQ, I hit a Ace on the flop and turn a boat , and the gambler leaves the table. Hand after hand goes by and i keep flopping two pair only to have the new guy suckout straights on me on the river … each time he questions what i have then bets. Most of this time i checked it to him cause of all the draws that completed and he will bet something rather weak into a large pot where I am basically forced to call. And sure enough he usually hit his gut shot or flush. There are several times where he doesn’t give the speech and I call with enthusiasm, to see if my read is right and it is. One such hand is after a series of him sucking out on me. I had gotten up to $550 in chips and had lost about 300 of it back to this guy and his luck. I get K-10 in the SB folded to me and I raise to $15 the guy calls. The flop comes out K-10-Q. I know I am good hear and know that the guy will call me down. I bet 30 on the flop and he calls. the turn is a 6 I bet 30 again and he calls, the river is an Ace. This is a very bad card to see cause if the guy has a J I can expect the speech and a bet. I check to him, there is no speech he just pushes a $100 stack out there. I think and decide to go with my read, thus I call. He turns over 8-7 off suit. I turn over two pair and take it down.
More hands and time go by and I start thinking man I should have gotten up and left when I got back to around $500 several hours ago. It is past 3 am and the gentleman in the 1 seat has announced for the tenth time that he is leaving soon. I am sitting on just below 400, the new guy has 300-400 and the 1 seat has close to 600. The new guy seeing that the 1 seat is actually getting serious about leaving declares “Lets play 5 more hands”. I know from experience that this usually means that the action is going to get fast and furious as people try to win big before they go home. So I decide to lay low and just take my winnings unless i get a good hand. the second hand in I get QQ. There is a raise in front of me and I reraise, the new guy folds and the 1 seat thinks then folds. I was more than ok with that as I don’t want to lose what I have left to an ace on the flop or river for that matter.
The last hand of the night. I pick up A-K off suit on the button. I raise to 20. The new guy thinks then folds, and the 1 seat calls me. The window card is a K , sweet i think to myself i actually have a chance of winning. The next card is a K, and the last card is a 7. This is awsome I think to myself, then I think well there is no way i am really going to get paid off here. The 1 seat then throws $25 bucks out there. I decide to just smooth call , and see if i cant get him to bet into me much larger on the turn. The Turn is yet another K. I now know that obviously he doesn’t have a K and that I don’t have to worry about a full house. He proceeds to bet out $50. I think well hopefully he bets out 100 on the river and I can raise him there. Its hard to get paid off on Quads and I don’t want to scare the deer by startling him with a raise. The river comes out a 5 and he checks to me. I was disappointed with the check, but now I had to figure out what the guy would call if he had either a 7 or a 5. I assumed that he had a 7 at this point, but was unsure as to why i was calling and he probably figured that we both had KKK-77 for a full house and that we were chopping. Like I said before the guy wasn’t exactly loose and he was a decent player. So what could I bet to ensure a call. The answer to me was another $50. So I bet it and he thought then called with a comment about chopping. He had A-7 and was shocked to see my quads. So it was a nice end to the evening, picking up an extra 140 or so on the final hand. Looking back he might have called more but I will never know.
So that was my late night in the Dallas underground. My second straight win at this particular location for over $300. I could have left hours earlier, and had a higher hourly rate, but felt that there was easy money left on the table and didn’t want to leave that situation. I needed this win as my trek to 10k playing only 1-2 has suffered my last few outings.
So without further waiting I am launching the blogs section of BigStack.com. Its been a long time in the making, but its finally here. I am still working some kinks out and trying to get things to where they are fully functional. At the moment I have two people that are blogging. I am hoping that these numbers increase in the coming months as we build a much larger poker community.
thejim, a professional poker player and sports handicapping hobbyist is running his new blog on the BigStack platform. http://thejimsheet.bigstack.com
This blog will serve as the system updates and informational blog. Along with anything else I desire to talk about.
