I have actually enjoyed not having the temptation to play online. I had a sicko love hate relationship with it. So now when I want to play I need to get in the car or on a plane. Lucky for me I have two of the best places to play right in my backyard. I totally feel for Wagon and Todd who made a living playing online. I want them both to know and everyone else just how good online was a teacher to playing good profitable poker live.
Last year everyone should remember my posts about losing big pots to bad beats when I was way way the favorite in hands. Over the past year I have been struggling to understand how my live play could warrant this given I turned $5 into over $600 online. I realized I played much different online. I wouldnt fold top top , picked on the players with really bad stats, pushed edges and bascially played a much more aggressive game online.
So I started trying to play more aggressive live with a few bright spots .. but then I started running bad again. and just playing aggressive I found didnt seem to be the answer either. I would say having a passive aggressive personality seemed to be the right mix for me. I have a tight image at the table and I like having that. So I needed to play passively in certain spots and more aggressive in others. Mix in some lighter value betting and hopefully that equals more winning sessions and bigger winning sessions.
I cannot describe to you more just how good the players are at the Hustler. I think they are the best players in LA. I think this is because this is a very nice place to play, in a safe neighborhood and the food is good. So you get players from as far away as the San Fernando valle ( a good hours drive when the commerce would be 30 minutes) and orange county. I seemed not to get paid off as much and if I didnt hit a draw then I was mirred in so so land.
Then about a week ago I had the best night at the hustler in over a year. I won big .. better still I was playing well and getting it in with the best and my hands held up. I calculated that prior to this month I had lost over 10k after flopping sets in the last 6 mos. Mainly from players on draws like flushes and straights with pairs etc. I just couldnt get a set to boat up. I even had a bozo check raise all in with just a 9 high flush draw against my top set only to lose to the flush on the turn.
So thats when I realized I needed to add thinner value bets on my not so big hands. Like tptk and the like. If the players didnt raise on the turn I was probably ok. just like when I played online. Then I went all in with AK on a A high board and got called by a player with an Ace with a worse kicker to double to 1000 stack and so forth.
So after playing with such good players I was really looking forward to playing in vegas to see how the players stacked up. Wow how bad are they! They are really bad in comparison and I would encourage anyone on this list to come and play because its so +EV.. Here are some hands from last night and thanks to JimInLV for railing me last night..
Hand #1 AA vs the min raiser..
Guy in seat 1 was constantly min raising . I felt that most of these were rather weakish hands and since I felt I probably played better post flop I would speculate. I was in seat 8 and being oop didnt help with playing aggressive with weaker hands. So I finally got AA in the small blind and reraise to 35. In LA I would have raised more since they are so loose but in Vegas my table was tighter and only two players called one of which was the min raiser. Fop comes
K 10 7 two clubs..
I dont think min raiser had KK since I am sure he would have reraised but to protect against the flush I bet 75 into the 115 pot. Min raiser called.. other player folded. So now I think he probably has a K and maybe a flush or straight draw. turn was a 7 pairing the board.. good card for me and I bet again.. $130.. he called again leaving himself only about $150 left. so no all in so I am probably good here.. river no club no ace.. and I go all in and he snap calls and mucks when I flip my AA over. sure he had a K maybe with A..
I would have never played this hand this way a few months ago and would have won a much smaller pot. I have to remember that the vast majority of the time they dont flop better and rather than leave all that equity on the table each time I decided to take the equity and the eventual outflop that will happen every so often. I should still come out way ahead since that wont happen nearly as often and I will reap the rewards of value betting along the way.
Hand #2 string raiser and underbettor...
I was in the bb and the sb was a nicely dress youngish guy who thought he was a much much better player than he was. He always seemed to have this look on his face of he knew what was going on which is so funny because he never knew where he was really. Most of the raises at my table were to 15 or 20 with the occassional 30 or 35 if someone had a really big hand. So a player raises to 15 and Smug guy tried to raise to 30 with another player already calling the 15 but he string bet it. I look down in the bb and see 23 of clubs. I figure he has a big pair Kings Aces or something like that and if I flop something big I could stack him because he is only playing his own cards. I call the 10 bucks more and we got to the flop 5 handed..
A 3 x one club.. Well that wasnt so good but Smug guy checks.. lol.. I certainly check behind thinking he probably has a set of aces .. turn is a J but its the Jack of clubs. Smug guy bets 15 bucks.. yep less than 20% of the pot. I am now way going to raise him since I dont think he would fold but if I hit a 2 a 3 or a club I think I am good. if he does have a set of aces then he will get some $$ from me.
The club hits the river and he decided to bet 35 bucks with confidence and so I raise 70 more and he thinks but calls quickly and mucks when I show my flush. Might have been able to riase a bit more but I hadnt seen him call a raise on the river so really wasnt sure how much he would call. I got lucky and again I would have not value raised that a few months ago but now I do and got an extra 75 bucks.
This is just two hands as examples but there was another guy who always overbet his hands in comparison to their strenghth. It threw me on one pot when I turned a boat that wasnt the nuts and I only called his river bet. We were both pretty deep and I just could figure out why he would be 400 into a 400 pot on the river. Well he turned the straight when I boated up and since I raised pre he thought I must have an overpair rather than 89 sooted. They were so bad they were making reads without paying attention. I raised first in with AA and 78 sooted alike. but yet he was sure I had an overpair and his straight was good. well I lost a little on that hand because I am sure he would have called a raise on the turn and maybe even an all in but his line was so off I just played it passively.. still I got 700 from him on that hand so nothing to get really upset.
Bottom line is you guys just have to come and play here. Play solid online style and you should be able to clean up if the bad beats stay at home.
h
Last year everyone should remember my posts about losing big pots to bad beats when I was way way the favorite in hands. Over the past year I have been struggling to understand how my live play could warrant this given I turned $5 into over $600 online. I realized I played much different online. I wouldnt fold top top , picked on the players with really bad stats, pushed edges and bascially played a much more aggressive game online.
So I started trying to play more aggressive live with a few bright spots .. but then I started running bad again. and just playing aggressive I found didnt seem to be the answer either. I would say having a passive aggressive personality seemed to be the right mix for me. I have a tight image at the table and I like having that. So I needed to play passively in certain spots and more aggressive in others. Mix in some lighter value betting and hopefully that equals more winning sessions and bigger winning sessions.
I cannot describe to you more just how good the players are at the Hustler. I think they are the best players in LA. I think this is because this is a very nice place to play, in a safe neighborhood and the food is good. So you get players from as far away as the San Fernando valle ( a good hours drive when the commerce would be 30 minutes) and orange county. I seemed not to get paid off as much and if I didnt hit a draw then I was mirred in so so land.
Then about a week ago I had the best night at the hustler in over a year. I won big .. better still I was playing well and getting it in with the best and my hands held up. I calculated that prior to this month I had lost over 10k after flopping sets in the last 6 mos. Mainly from players on draws like flushes and straights with pairs etc. I just couldnt get a set to boat up. I even had a bozo check raise all in with just a 9 high flush draw against my top set only to lose to the flush on the turn.
So thats when I realized I needed to add thinner value bets on my not so big hands. Like tptk and the like. If the players didnt raise on the turn I was probably ok. just like when I played online. Then I went all in with AK on a A high board and got called by a player with an Ace with a worse kicker to double to 1000 stack and so forth.
So after playing with such good players I was really looking forward to playing in vegas to see how the players stacked up. Wow how bad are they! They are really bad in comparison and I would encourage anyone on this list to come and play because its so +EV.. Here are some hands from last night and thanks to JimInLV for railing me last night..
Hand #1 AA vs the min raiser..
Guy in seat 1 was constantly min raising . I felt that most of these were rather weakish hands and since I felt I probably played better post flop I would speculate. I was in seat 8 and being oop didnt help with playing aggressive with weaker hands. So I finally got AA in the small blind and reraise to 35. In LA I would have raised more since they are so loose but in Vegas my table was tighter and only two players called one of which was the min raiser. Fop comes
K 10 7 two clubs..
I dont think min raiser had KK since I am sure he would have reraised but to protect against the flush I bet 75 into the 115 pot. Min raiser called.. other player folded. So now I think he probably has a K and maybe a flush or straight draw. turn was a 7 pairing the board.. good card for me and I bet again.. $130.. he called again leaving himself only about $150 left. so no all in so I am probably good here.. river no club no ace.. and I go all in and he snap calls and mucks when I flip my AA over. sure he had a K maybe with A..
I would have never played this hand this way a few months ago and would have won a much smaller pot. I have to remember that the vast majority of the time they dont flop better and rather than leave all that equity on the table each time I decided to take the equity and the eventual outflop that will happen every so often. I should still come out way ahead since that wont happen nearly as often and I will reap the rewards of value betting along the way.
Hand #2 string raiser and underbettor...
I was in the bb and the sb was a nicely dress youngish guy who thought he was a much much better player than he was. He always seemed to have this look on his face of he knew what was going on which is so funny because he never knew where he was really. Most of the raises at my table were to 15 or 20 with the occassional 30 or 35 if someone had a really big hand. So a player raises to 15 and Smug guy tried to raise to 30 with another player already calling the 15 but he string bet it. I look down in the bb and see 23 of clubs. I figure he has a big pair Kings Aces or something like that and if I flop something big I could stack him because he is only playing his own cards. I call the 10 bucks more and we got to the flop 5 handed..
A 3 x one club.. Well that wasnt so good but Smug guy checks.. lol.. I certainly check behind thinking he probably has a set of aces .. turn is a J but its the Jack of clubs. Smug guy bets 15 bucks.. yep less than 20% of the pot. I am now way going to raise him since I dont think he would fold but if I hit a 2 a 3 or a club I think I am good. if he does have a set of aces then he will get some $$ from me.
The club hits the river and he decided to bet 35 bucks with confidence and so I raise 70 more and he thinks but calls quickly and mucks when I show my flush. Might have been able to riase a bit more but I hadnt seen him call a raise on the river so really wasnt sure how much he would call. I got lucky and again I would have not value raised that a few months ago but now I do and got an extra 75 bucks.
This is just two hands as examples but there was another guy who always overbet his hands in comparison to their strenghth. It threw me on one pot when I turned a boat that wasnt the nuts and I only called his river bet. We were both pretty deep and I just could figure out why he would be 400 into a 400 pot on the river. Well he turned the straight when I boated up and since I raised pre he thought I must have an overpair rather than 89 sooted. They were so bad they were making reads without paying attention. I raised first in with AA and 78 sooted alike. but yet he was sure I had an overpair and his straight was good. well I lost a little on that hand because I am sure he would have called a raise on the turn and maybe even an all in but his line was so off I just played it passively.. still I got 700 from him on that hand so nothing to get really upset.
Bottom line is you guys just have to come and play here. Play solid online style and you should be able to clean up if the bad beats stay at home.
h
