Multiple action continued

Alright, well I just had a nice 14 hour sleep and am ready to go again. I left things off with being stuck early in the 2/5 plo8 game with a couple of bad setup hands. When things started off the guy who hit me in the first hand was an older guy who definitely wanted to build action and said he had played all day in a 20/40 hold'em game and had done nothing but lose money. My first impression of this guy was that he was an easy mark and he had about $1600 in front of him so I topped up my stack to about $1700 in the hopes to catch him in a big hand. Well, it turns out the guy really isn't all that horrible, he may be one of the weaker players at the table but he certainly is not as bad as he looks. What I mean by that is that in spite of his very loose preflop hand selection and play he really does not give away much postflop. He bets his hands hard when they are made, tries to slow people down when he is drawing, and has the ability to fold. Anyways, from this point on I will refer to him as Doghouse which is what he said his nickname is in spite of the fact that I called him Groundhog for a lot of the evening. It is pretty obvious that almost everyone at the table is targeting Doghouse but no-one is really able to sink a big hit on him and money is just moving around the table. I am able to grind back to about even on the session when we are about 2 hours into play. The table dynamics start to change when two well know internet players jump into the game. Sircoopalot who won a WSOP bracelet last year in the 5k O8 event and CincysFinest both join the table. Scoop is drinking and ramps up the table action a bit and Cincy is quite drunk and willing to shoot it up pretty hard too. Now, when I say these guys are increasing the action I just mean that we are seeing a ton of preflop raising and building a nice pot almost every single hand. Post flop play at the table is still very solid overall at the table but the pots are big enough making the game profitable if you can play well postflop. About 4-5 hours into the session I have gone card dead beyond belief and am getting kinda frustrated as I am surrounded by action and don't have a sniff of anything I can get involved with when I play this hand. Now, I will warn anyone who knows anything about the game that this is ugly and it is pretty hard to play a hand worse than I played this hand. I have As Ks Ts 6h when a new player comes to the table and he straddles in first position to $10. I am on the button and I call and he raises to $60 preflop and I decide to call along.(small mistake #1) The flop comes 6s 9s 2h and he bets $150. I had flopped touch and nut flush draw, but with two low cards on the board I have almost no flexibility in the hand and should fold. However, I start deliberating and talking to the guy...."do you just have aces? do you just have a low wrap? etc etc" He says something of the nature like..."well I am not there yet but I have a bigger draw than you do?" I find this a pretty odd statement when I have the nut flush draw in my own hand so I take a shot thinking maybe I have some chance of making him fold here and if not I know I am at least drawing to the nut high and can could make some kinda two pair if in fact he does have AA. I raise to $600 (big mistake #2) and he immediately goes all in for a just a few hundred more and I am forced to call. He tables A93x so he has flopped top pair and the nut low draw. A definite favourite against my hand and I miss everything and he gets a nice $900 gift as soon as he sits down. If I had a low draw with my hand I don't mind the push but this was a horrible horrible play by myself simply because I was getting bored, impatient, and trying to talk myself into a way to win a hand. Anyways, in the same rotation I lose another $300 to the guy and he pulls a hit and run show by walking away with the hundreds, leaving his chips and coming back to take the chips off the table right away. Blah, so I am stuck in a game I should be beating for about $1400.

I make some back when I have about $2400 in front of me at the table and this hand comes up against Doghouse. Alright, so Cincy is at his drunkest right now and is in the bb and he announces that he will raise pot blind if everyone just limps and that he doesnt care what they have and the should feel free to reraise if they want. He just wants some action, so I look down and find AA24 about as good as it gets. I decide to call so I can reraise and isolate against Cincy and build a nice pot preflop. Well, doghouse has a different idea and raises from the button to $60, Cincy and everyone else fold to me and I reraise to $150. This raise is small but it has two purposes, keep doghouse on the line and control the pot in case I get some kind of scary flop. Flop comes A58 and I flop the nut set with 2nd nut low and lead out $300, he immediately says pot and I push him all in for about $1500 total. He rolls over 23t9 for the nut low and I immediately declare "no 4 please" but boom 4 on the turn and I lose the entire pot when the board does not pair on the river and he hits his 3 out scoop card to make the wheel and take it all. Needless to say this really sucks ass after playing with the guy who seems to be the target at the table, getting a great flop, and then getting totally screwed by a 3 outter for a $3k pot.

I am trying pretty hard not to tilt away the final $900 I have in front of me. Most of us at the table have started to drink pretty hard now and the double gins and crown royal shots have definitely started to do their work Now, generally boozing at the table isn't the brightest of ideas but when I can get most of the table drinking with me I think my drunk play is much better than their drunk play. Anyways, I get a235 and raise it preflop and get called by Scoop and another player. Flop comes 76k and player A bets, scoop raises, and I declare that I am all in having flopped the uncounterfeitable nut low draw with a gutshot straight. Both of them call and I nail the 5 to guarantee me some of the low on the turn, and the river is an A giving me Aces up and nut low draw. Both players much their hands without showing and I take down a pot just under 3k and am back in business. I make a few other pots and the game is forced to break at 11am as the Rio wants the tables for the noon WSOP event. Pretty unimpressed with them shutting down a cash game that had he staying power to play through the night. So, overall I had a roller coaster of a night and broke about even which I thought was pretty good for the early coolers, $900 terrible donation and $1500 loss in the 3k pot that I got 3 out scooped in. This game will definitely be something I play a lot over the coming weeks.

So, what do you do afer playing cards thru the night for 16 hours straight? Do you go back and sleep? No you head straight to the Venetian for the $540 O8 tournament. Yeah, that's right more limit poker......wooo fn hooooo. I go eat at noodle asia and as the tournament is about to get underway it starts to set in that I didn't sleep and I am about to fall asleep any minute. Solution, start drinking ceasars and try to perk up. I swear I almost fell asleep twice in the first level.....probably a good thing as I certainly didnt play any questionable hands. In the 2nd level I got my 2nd wind and was good to go for the balance of the tournament. By the first break I was chip leader at my table, which means nothing in a limti structure. My table was incredibly weak and I felt great about how I was playing and my chances. Over the next 3 levels I flop some big hands but am forced to fold when I don't quite get there on either end and bleed my stack down below average and below comfort. In the 8th level I am starting to get quite short when I get his hand in the bb a6jt. The button limps, sb calls, and I check. Flop is AA6 so I flop the nuts. sb checks, I bet, the button folds and the sn calls. Turn is a 5 and I still have the nuts and bet, the sb calls and says something like I just call with the best hand. I say to him, you are losing and and best probably have 3 or maybe 6 outs if you are lucky. Turn is a K and he bets into me, i think for quite a long time knowing it is quite possible he just his his AK. With so many other hands he could possibly play like this, nut low, smaller boat, etc I decide i have to make a crying call. The asshole rolls over one card at a time, 2, 5, A, and lastly K. There is nothing I hate more than fucking pricks who slowroll me but I took it well and didn't get mad at either the fact he 3 outted me or slowrolled me and continued to play well. I just could never get a decent stack and eventually busted out going with a good hand in As2stc6c. I ran into AA2 and the guys aces held.

I played this tournament almost flawlessly. The call when that guy rivers the bigger full house is my only questionable play. I really have to reevaluate playing limit o8 tournaments. It really just gets to be bingo, i played great taking down pots I know I was losing which is hard to do in this game, maximized every winning hand I had, had a weak table, didn't get coolered too much and yet still never did I have a comfortable stack when the action got big. The betting limits just catch up with the stack far too quick and the skill comes right out of the game. I am going to pass on playing anymore O8 this trip and focus on any Pot Limit games I an find or nl holdem tourneys where you can actually punish people when they make mistakes.

On tap for today, play the $300 NL Megastack at caesars. I have been hearing great things about the structure. If that doesn't go well for me then I will head to the Rio again tonight in hopes that the 2/5 plo8 game gets off the ground again.