Dave had to head back to San Francisco, leaving me to fend for myself. I was initially hesitant, playing with a buddy is really the best way to go. You can protect each other in multi-way action, you can do some sick post game analysis and just sounding ideas on betting, constructing table image and what not always push the game to that next level.

Like a true degenerate, he tried to change his flight so we could cram in another 2/5 session, but the airlines weren’t having it and he had to be back to San Fran at a time that made it unfeasible. There is a blurry line between a degenerate and a great player, and I think had he pushed the flight we’d have landed on the wrong side of that line.

I wish he had been there to see some of the sickness though.

Settling in By Myself

Honestly, I wasn’t feeling up to another session of poker. Dave and I had stumbled into an early morning game that same day and Dave had run a bad session while I landed up $800. Truth be told we were both exhausted and off our games, but I honestly believe our half-game is two steps ahead of most people’s best games. I know that sounds egotistical, and it is, but ego is an essential ingredient when playing poker. If you can spike up your ego and have faith that you are a great player, that comes across the table in a confidence level that instantly sets up a favorable table image. It carries through in your bluffs and your body language in general, making it that much harder for people to put you on hands and hesitant to call your pot spiking raises.

So I took some time to have a meal, write some notes on the early morning degenerate session and plan out a few scenarios for the next session. I decided during dinner that I was going to hold off on the bluffing and practice a more trapping game using some betting strategy that Dave and I had talked about while waiting for his flight. I also committed myself to an 8 hour session and I think this is important to highlight. Telling yourself that you are going to play 8 hours or 10 hours frees you from the novice mistake of thinking you need to be involved in every monster pot or you have to play semi-strong hands when the correct play is to fold. When you fold QJ, KJ, A10 or some other flopping/drawing hand, I always look at my watch and tell myself I have plenty more time for a more perfect setup. When you rush you make mistakes. Slow, deliberate play wins in the long run, so give yourself time and be lenient with yourself in making solid folds when things feel fishy.

I head to the 2/5 game at MGM and land on a table of monster stacks. I was slightly intimidated until a little voice in my head told me “Those stacks belong to you.”

It’s all my brain had to do throw me into the game. I did my standard start off of fold, watch and listen. I think this is critical to my play. I need to understand the table before I can start moving on it. Additionally, by playing tight, or not at all, the pro’s will pick up that you are studying the action and throw a little respect your way when you do start showing up in some pots.

Sick Ducks

My first action pot had me with 22 in the small blind. I have about $400 and some change, $100 over my $300 buy-in. Button raises 35 bucks and I instantly put him on AK.

2/5 is real predictable in this way.

Any large pre-flop raise is almost certainly AA, AK, AQ or big pocket pair. Unfortunately for the raiser, I had him down as a super weak stack and knew it was coin flip going into the flop so I call without hesitation. Calling speed is critical, I’ve found. When small blind calls without hesitation, weaker players start the sweat, specifically if he doesn’t have a made hand. I personally feel that AK is a crap hand post-flop so calling here is a no brainer. For 2/5 the best you can hope for is 2 pair or trips, but the flop rarely goes that way with AK. Since I’m only 35 in with a made hand that he can’t put me on, it’s no sweat to fold to a flop favorable to his AK.

Flop falls down 2-4-J. Mister AK has me on J-10 or JQ which is as perfect as perfect can be. First to act, I spike the pot for $100 which I knew he would call with his two overs and two cards to come. To my chagrin, he pushes all in which I call instantly since he’s drawing dead. Two pair can’t save him. Two running kings or aces gives me a full house. If his AK is suited, he’ll need runner runner to catch a flush which I’ll gladly play off as a reward for letting me trap him in a sick hand.

I insta-call and make a mind fuck play of proudly flipping my 2’s and declaring his “AK suited” dead before he even shows. I’ll eat my crow if the turn and river go his way.

But it doesn’t. Another 4 comes on the turn, giving me a boat and his hand is dead as dead can be.

Double up puts me at $800 and I’m right in my comfort zone with my chip stack to start making moves. My little show when I flip has broadcasted to the rest of the table that I have cahones the size of boulders which I take advantage of later to steal some pots with a few semi-bluffs.

Mind Fuck Part Deux

This was a picture perfect psychology play.

I’m dealt AA in 4th position. I limp in for $5, which I honestly feel is the best play in early position holding AA because so many people have yet to act and I want a read on hands before I spike it. 3 callers and a bunch of folds follow. The guy in the small blind raises 35 bucks. Hello AJ!

Action comes back to me, with button calling Mister AJ’s raise. I do a fairly obvious re-checking of my hand, sprinkling the top with some feigned running of the math, so that Mister AJ puts me on QQ or KK. Dude on the button is of no concern to me. He’s calling with small pair or 9-10 hoping to hit a flop. I re-raise $100 on top, honestly hoping to take it down right here, but knowing that Mister AJ is likely to call because he’s a total fish.

He hems and haws but finally calls. He acts like he can’t put me on a hand, but I know he has me on QQ or KK. Someone holding AA would have spiked from 4th seat and not had to re-check their cards or spend some time thinking about his raise. I know that post-flop I’m going to play a very dirty trick and I think I would only allow myself to do this once per session because it’s such a filthy move.

Before I tell you what I did, I want to tell you why I did it. There is a chance I have misread, but misreading with AA in the pocket is acceptable. If he has KK or QQ, then he has me on AJ or AQ. To illicit a call if he does have KK or QQ, I’m going to have to induce him into doing it. Honestly, I don’t really think this guy can put me on any hand at all, he just doesn’t seem that good of a player. If he’s holding KK or QQ, hell even AQ/AJ/AK, he’s going to replay some move he saw on television and walk right into my trap.

The flop comes down junk. There is a pause right after the dealer flips the flop and I jump in declaring “All In” acting out of position.

Told you this was a filthy dirty move.

A savvy player might see my trap right there, but I’ve consciously broadcasted to the guy that I’m very eager to play my KK or QQ with this kind of flop by declaring my intentions out of turn. Since he was suppose to be first to act, the dealer tells me to cool my jets and turns to the guy to have him act. The guy checks to me and I instantly redeclare my All In. Thanks for helping me with my play Mr. Dealer!

Before I tell you what happened, I want to point out that I’m perfectly happy at this point to take the pot down if Mister AJ folds to my All In. David is big on maximizing value for a hand, which is awesome playing, but I put a little less importance on it because too many times you can get caught in some weird crossfire that junks your winning hand when you could have walked off with the pot on post-flop action. Here is where setting an amount of time for play is important because you can thrive on picking up $100-$200 pots here and there to slowly build up your stack. Patience pays in spades.

At first, I think the guy is going to fold. I have around $900 in front of me, with about $300 in the pot. He has around $700 in front of him (most of which he picked up on a bullshit gutshot draw that got him a lot of heat from the table for sucking out). He calls, flipping over AQ so my read was pretty damn close. A solid player would have folded, and I honestly think this guy would have folded too had I not acted so dirty. By coming out as an eager beaver and/or a bully, he wants to “teach me a lesson” or pull out a “Degree All-In Moment”. Wrong move.

Needless to say the rest of the board came out junk and I took it down. You wouldn’t believe the incredulous table banter that exploded from the solid players as I raked in chips. One guy that I had been paying a shitload of respect to calls me out for limping in 4th position with pocket AA’s telling me what a dumb move that was. If there is one thing that can easily drop me on tilt, it’s when a respected player does post play analysis on the way I’ve played. As I’m raking in the reds, I turn to the guy and say:

“Dude, this table is so soft it’s like butter. The guy over here (pointing to the guy whom I had just busted) is going to call with any sizable pocket pair and his raise told me he was on AJ/KK/QQ. I limp and the flop comes down as the perfect trap. I’m not afraid of getting my aces cracked at all. I can throw that shit away all day and not cry about it. And, shit, it’s not like I didn’t broadcast what I had with my re-raise and my all-in. It’s his fault he let me put him in that trap. Furthermore, how the hell is anyone going to put me on a hand for the next hour? I respect your plays man, but after this not even you are going to be able to put me on a hand and trust me I’m going to play that to the tilt.”

I know I gave up way too much information here, but I did it on purpose. I wanted the table to know that I played that hand hard and it wasn’t random luck. I wanted them to know that I was observing and had people’s plays pegged. While it gave me the asshole image at the table, it also gives me the semi-pro/pro image and that’s going to have people back off when I start pulling out my semi-bluffs and bluffs.

Cracking Rocks

The guy in seat 9 I had played in a couple of other sessions and knew him to be a bit of an ATM machine. Definitely not good at reading other players, but I will give him credit for otherwise being a very tight player willing to grind it out until he hits a good hand.

I’m in the small blind with pocket 6’s. I raise 35 hoping for a single caller and everyone folds except for The Rock. He calls and I’m assuming AJ/AQ. Did I mention 2/5 was predicatable in this way?

The flop comes down perfect. A-J-6, rags. I check to him and he raises 50. I smooth call and the turn comes junk so I know I’m good. I’ll pay JJ off, but I don’t put The Rock on JJ with his call on my pre-flop raise. I lead out with $75 and he insta-calls and I have to put him on AJ because he’s going to protect his set of jacks with a re-raise or an All-In which I can’t call. He could be laying a trap with AA, but he’s not that good and at this point he’s afraid of me, but - like the other dude - wants to snap a piece off the bully.

River comes more junk, the only possible hands in play are set over set, but I have him on 2 pair. I check to him and he bets $75 which I promptly reraise to $200. Pow, right in the kisser.

He runs the math and realizes that he’s priced into the pot. I’m hoping for an all-in move, but he simply calls the $200 and I flip the set. He shows AJ and storms from the table. There is deathly silence as I pull in the pot and stack it up. When he returns to the table, obviously steaming at his bad play, I can overhear him and another guy running post-play analysis. The end result is that he should have pushed me on the turn with an all-in raise which I would have had to fold because he’d be representing JJ and his set would have been larger. His mistake was putting me on AK, but honestly I don’t expect that anyone could have put me on sixes with an out of position raise like that.

Rack Em Up

This is probably the best move I made during that session. I racked up my chips when I had quintupled up. I could have stayed and grinded longer, but the math showed me I was making $300 an hour for 5 hours of play. I had just lost about $150 in a bluff gone bad, so I made the right choice to close that session out. I know I had planned to play for 8 hours, but it struck me as a better idea to rack up, take a break for a few hours and write about the session so that I could make notes on my plays. I’ll be heading back for another session soon with the assumption that I’ll play for another 10 hours.

After the degenerate analysis with David, I’ve decided I have a strict single $300-$400 buy-in policy for 2/5. If I lose that buy-in I leave the table and take a walk/nap/meal. It hasn’t happened yet, but the biggest mistake I’ve seen repeatedly is people buying and rebuying over and over. When your tilted, and you will be when you lose your buy-in, just walk away from the goddamn table. It’ll be there when you get back. Do something to knock out the bad energy and once you feel the power again, go hit the session and show it who’s boss.

Racked Up