Saturday, November 12, 2005

Trump, A Princess, and a couple of questions......

I made a run to Trump last night with my brother..........I was supposed to be out of town but plans had to be changed and instead of checking out the poker action at Prairie Meadows in Des Moines Iowa I was back in my familiar Trump surroundings.

I decided that I was going to give the baby NL game (200 max buy-in 2/5 blinds) a go again as the 6/12 grind had been wearing on me and I wanted a change. I've played it a couple of times with some success. My brother wanted to play NL as well so when I called ahead I got us both on the NL list. We got there around 9:30pm and they were getting ready to open a new NL table which would be the feeder table for the evening. Our names were around 10-12 on the list depending on who had checked in and would before they called names so we knew it wouldn't be long before we were sat. I wandered the room quickly and noticed The Princess seated playing NL in a game that uses those nice green chips.......larger than my bankroll can handle. I told myself that once I got settled I was GOING TO SAY HI AND INTRODUCE MYSELF. I bought chips and while in line my name was the 10th called to start the feeder table. I sat in seat 7 and knew we wouldn't be there long before we'd be pulled to a main table. You never know where you'll end up so it's always nice to have increased your stack somewhat before getting pulled.

I won a couple of pots and turned my $200 stack into just over $300 before being pulled to table 15. It was a good looking table at first.......only two LARGE stacks (over $1000) with one of them leaving shortly after I sat down. I told myself, "play solid poker....nothing fancy....trust my reads." The new dealer was waiting to tap in so I posted my time after mucking and headed to introdce myself to Princess Maigrey. I'm very glad I finally introduced myself. We chatted briefly and I returned to my table.............I owe the Princess an apology as well......sorry I didn't stop to say good-bye before bailing.....it was way earlier that I expected when I took off and I was steamed a bit......more on that in minute.........it was a pleasure to finally meet you and I look forward to chatting more in future visits.

Now I just need to hook up with One Hella Hold 'Em player and a DonkeyPuncher on other trips to the Trump. Another time Shelly and DP.

Back to the action.........

I was slowly building a nice stack........with my BB unraised and me holding 7 4o the flop came 4 4 6 rainbow. It checked around and the turn came a J. I checked and a short stacked player in MP Over bet the pot to $45 leaving him with less than fifty in his stack. It folded to me and I raised him all in and he called. He had J 9 suited with no flush draw and I caught a 7 on the river for the full house.

I had a tight image to the people that were paying attention and actually got a couple to fold after the flop with a continuation bet when I missed and they checked to me when I was in position. There was one guy that would call and/or raise with any part of the board or two overcards. I couldn't put him on a hand. When the seat immediately to my left opened he moved there and I wasn't thrilled with it. It wasn't long and we tangled in a hand.

I'd love to hear opinions from anyone and everyone on how I played the following two hands. I need help.

I had built my stack to around $550. I was in LP with Kc 10c. There were several limpers and I limped as well (should have raised here?) as did the gentleman immediately to my left. There was roughly $30 in the pot. The flop came Ac 5h 8c. It checked to me and I bet $20 with my nut flush draw. The guy to my left called and everyone else folded. I was concerned about the Ace but had seen this guy play and show down any piece of a board. The pot was $70. The turn was the 10h giving me second pair with the nut flush draw. I bet out $50 and he called. The pot was $170. The guy had around $80 left in his stack and the river brought the 6d. I thought my ten could be good and figured if he had an Ace with a weak kicker he would lay it down. I bet out $75 basically putting him all in......he pushed all in and it actually cost me another $20 as he had $95 total and he turned over Aces up.......Aces and 6's catching the second pair on the river and both were hearts giving him the heart flush draw on the turn.

This hand put a dent in my stack........thoughts on how I played this?

It was right after this hand that maigrey stopped by to say "Hi" and commented how I had a lot more chips a little while ago. Sorry if I was short with you.....I was trying not to be steamed from this hand but it bothered me......maybe I should have picked the good Princess's brain there but she was moving to the BIG Game and her thoughts seemed occupied with that.

3 hands later...................I'm sitting with roughly $250.

I'm dealt the lovely Hilton Sisters in MP. The player two to my right raises it up to $35. Standard raises at this table had been $15 or $20 with one guy always min. raising. This struck me as odd and I put him on a mid-pair or AJs type hand. I just called as did the big blind. There was roughly $110 in the pot. The flop came 3 6 8 with two diamonds. The BB checked and the MP player bet out $75. I thought about it for a minute..........I decided if I called here I was going to end up with all of it in anyway so I wanted to get rid of the Big Blind player and put the bettor to the test. I also thought he could be on a diamond draw and wanted him to have to pay to draw to it. I pushed for $212 total and the Big Blind folded. The bettor hesitated for a moment and then said I call asking me if I had a set. He flipped over KK and had my Queens dominated. The turn brought another low diamond and he didn't have the King of diamonds so I had more outs at the river but the river was the Jack of hearts and I was felted. I got up and walked out.

Any thoughts on this hand? On the way home I thought a lot about it and was actually impressed that I was able to play it in much the same fashion that I would in a tournament......when in the past I had trouble getting over the fact that those chips are actually money and I looked at them this time as simply chips to be used.......good or bad?

Insight is needed.....HELP!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Baz Out.
|