MT and I went down to Gardena today to get in a few hours at the Hustler Casino. Much better than Hollywood Park, in my opinion. First of all, the parking lot is right next to the casino, as opposed to a couple hundred yards away. Inside, it’s kept clean and the materials are somewhat better than the Park’s. The clientele’s not as sketchy or obnoxious, and the food/cocktail/coffee servers come by pretty frequently. In terms of the games, the rake’s the same as at Hollywood Park, but there’s no small blind at the 3-6 and 4-8 tables, and the bad beat jackpot money comes from the blind instead of the button. So for every orbit, you’re only forced to put in one small bet versus two. That’s 5BB/100 hands you’re saving, which is pretty substantial.

I played 3-6 while MT hit the 4-8 and 6-12 tables. I ended up +8.5BB after a little over 3 hours of play. Not a monster session, but much preferable to losing money. In terms of BB/100 hands, it’s really not bad at all. Having a small blind and a separate bad beat contribution would have probably eroded most of my winnings.

The first hand I got dealt was AT. Flop showed a ten high and I bet every round and took the pot after the river without having to show. No fold ’em indeed.

Raised pre-flop only twice, both times with Big Slick–offsuit and suited. Won the first time when the board came up AQJ9A. Again, I won on the river without having to show. I’m sure some of them had the odds to call to the river. The second time I bet the flop then check-folded the turn when the flop and turn missed me completely. It’s hard to bluff these guys if they’ve got top pair (or any pair, for that matter). The winning hand was a pair of eights with a ten kicker.

I profitably check-raised the turn a couple times: had T8s and flopped trips the first time (she folded to my raise), had AXs and flopped two pair the second time (he called to the showdown).

One guy tried to bluff every hand by leading the betting. One time I had pocket 8’s and the flop came up 77x. The bluffer bet and the next guy called. The caller worried me, and I folded. Of course an 8 appeared on the turn. Blah. Folding pocket pairs for one small bet is really questionable. On another hand I had KTo and the flop was Kxx. The bluffer bet every round and then mucked his cards at the showdown before I even had to show. Okay. On another hand I had AT (got this hand four times) and the flop came up QJ8. The bluffer bet, the guy next to him raised all-in ($2 more) and I called with 8 outs. The turn was a rag and I checked, only to discover that the bluffer was already all-in. Lucky me. The king appeared on the river. Lucky me. Turns out the bluffer had pocket eights and was pretty mad about his set losing to my straight.

I don’t think I had anyone suck out on me, which is pretty lucky. On the other hand, a woman at our table had a bad beat handed to her early on when she flopped the wheel, bet and raised at every opportunity, and lost to a 7-high straight on the river. A few hands later, her top pair lost to the wheel on the river. Insult to injury. She had to rebuy soon after that. Other people had pocket aces, kings, queens, or jacks, and lost to players with flushes and straights that had no business being in the pot in the first place. Love it.

All in all, it was a good way to spend the afternoon. MT lost several big bets (mostly through blind attrition, though his cowboys failed to hold up a couple times), but we agreed that we should try to make it out there more often.

Lost another $20 in PL games today, but came in first in a 2-table 8+.80 SNG on Pacific. Pretty lucky for me, since I entered the final table as one of the low stacks.

Here’s where it turned around: I had big slick and only about 4 times the big blind. I pushed and got one caller: AQ. Neither of us improved and I won our bets plus the blinds. From there on out, I hit big or scared people out of pots while one or two of the big stacks started taking out small and medium stacks.

By the time I made the money, two of us were the small stacks, but my run of good cards, luck, and decent plays continued. By the time big stack knocked off the #5 finisher, my stack was much more respectable. My favorite thing to do is to make my bet exactly equal to the number of chips the short stack has left. When things got desperate for them, they started to push back against my pre-flop raises and flop bets. Fortunately, my good hands usually stayed good, and the short stacks went out one after the other.

I was psyched to be heads up with big stack since I had entered the final table and the money at a disadvantage. In fact, big stack now only had a 20% advantage. After trying to make some moves and finding himself dominated by my hands, he soon switched tactics and started folding hands and blinds. Then he’d try to make a move or sniff me out, but fold to a good-sized turn bet. We switched leads perhaps twice, but once I took it the second time, I outchipped him 6:1 or more. It didn’t last much longer after that. First pays $56, netting me $47.

As for PL, I really don’t know what’s going on. Maybe it’s the other side of that variance coin finally kicking in. Maybe it’s punishment for my hubris. Maybe it’s me not playing at optimal times with enough time and energy to commit to a good session and trying instead to suck out a quick hit and run with 2-6 suited. Oh, hey. That could be a problem.

Today’s been lousy. $30 of losses led me to the $50 NL table where I got my ass handed to me. It seemed like everyone was involved in a big pot but me. My few wins barely kept me floating until I finally figured that rockets could finally win a big pot:

You don’t see this happen everyday. I mean, what the fuck? Three overcards on the flop, strong pre-flop raise, flop bet of over half the pot–how the fuck did he think he could win? Oh, of course, two more threes would come out to give him four of a kind!

Poker God was very unkind today with the beats. Argh. Bad Poker God.

JC stepped out this week. In honor of the occasion, we changed the game from limit to spread limit: nickel-quarter-fifty cents. Not sure if this or the more aggressive play last week had more of an effect, but the game was more aggressive and the pots were bigger. JB finished on top this week:

    This week  Cumulative  Average
CR    -$4.55      +$0.35    +$0.04
EM    -$0.80      -$3.10    -$0.31
ER    +$1.25     +$14.40    +$1.60
JB    +$4.65      -$4.65    -$0.47
Me    -$0.55     -$13.00    -$1.30

Both CR and I bought in for another $5 this week. I wanted to add some firepower to my arsenal after getting a river beat handed to me by ER. Pre-flop I raised the maximum (a quarter) with a high pocket pair. ER called in the SB and EM called in the BB. Flop is 10-x-x. ER checks, EM bets a quarter, I raise a quarter, ER calls, EM calls. Turn is x. ER checks, EM checks, I bet fifty cents, ER calls, EM folds. River is K. ER checks, I check. ER shows two pairs, kings and tens, and I muck. I lost $1.35 on that hand, which, if you’ll notice, would have put me in the black and ER in the red. Oh cruel fate.

Happy Rosh Hashana, and Happy Birthday to those born on the 16th.