RENO - Biggest Little Cash Game in the World - PART 2

 I slept well in a very clean and very cushy Peppermill room, though I will say the decor really isn't my thing.

Obviously that's my luggage lol

Despite staying at Liberace's house, I still felt good as I wandered down to find some food.  The cafe Milano was hopping and the service was friendly.  The food was a bit better than Denny's, which for me means really good as Denny's is awesome.  'Twas a bit more spendy than I would've liked, but I think that when you turn fifty you automatically assume that a breakfast bill for one person should be less than $20 which I know logically is just an absurd notion these days.

I wandered into the poker room around 11am or so and Michele was already there and had been playing since 9am.  We chatted a bit, then I walked to the back and registered for the noon Donkament.

12K

And Donkament it was - judging by the starting stack and structure sheet it was going to be an absolute turbo, which was fine by me.  I didn't want to be spending 5+ hours grinding and not cash, I wanted to finish top 3 in 3 hours or bust early so I could go make some money.

But then we got playing and I got excited because my opponents, though they were all kind and lovely, were almost all soft and easy targets for tournament shenanigans, which I employed early and often - understanding deeply that with the bingo blinds looming there was no time to waste.

1st level I found THE overpair on the button (that would be my favorite starting hand which is AA ha ha) - I opened for 4x as is my usual in soft low stake turbos in the first level - and only the bb defended.

Flop 224 rainbow, I cbet 1/3 pot.  Turn was a second heart, I sized up to 2/3, bb called. (The pot is now 4K and we had 12K starting stacks lol) River was a non-heart 7, I bet 3/4 pot, bb snapped.  Gulp.  He had pocket 10s and so I managed to get 3 streets of value with an overpair vs. overpair and increased my stack by over 50%.

In hindsight, although I have worked really hard on getting thin value on the river - and here it worked out, I wouldn't hate a check back on 5th street. As is often the case with an overpair, or flopping top pair, I was likely either well ahead or well behind here.  I think in this hand, two streets of value is more than good enough.  If he'd had a 2 here, and there were a ton more 2s in his range than mine, I would've just handed over half of my stack.

Shortly thereafter I busted what must've been the same guy for 3500 more chips in a flip - my AK vs JJ, no waiting on the flop for a six outer.

I actually did tighten up a bit thereafter, no reason to force things when the table was playing super loose.  As you likely know if you keep up with this blog and are deep into poker (and if you don't and you're not why are you reading this?) I like to key off what the table is doing and generally do the opposite.

Alas, maybe this time I should've eschewed my normal approach and tried to force things, because when we got back from the break I realized that I had a whopping 12 blinds.   Not time to panic, but not that great considering we'd started with 3 tables and we still had - 3 almost full tables.

Early on I open ripped over three limpers in the big blind with J10o, it got through and I dragged a pot that  increased my stack by 30%.  

I continued the game of chicken with three more expertly timed (I must say) shoves that also got through.  One with KK, one with 7c8c and one with pocket 6s.

Then this happened - 4 limpers and I woke up with AJ on the button.   Though I now had almost 20 big blinds it seemed an easy jam again.  One of the limpers snapped and showed JJ.  Yuck.  He had me covered.

Barry Greenstein on the river.

I dragged my chips silently.  Gus (what I call any player that's older than me and limps with JJ) was not happy.

Now that I had chirping chips, and the 3rd table had finally broken and the blinds were bigger - I started getting a little respect with my opens, even though I was sizing to barely more than a min-raise.

As the table tightened up, I opened up and for the next hour my VPIP was likely easily over 70%.

We finally colored up the 100s and 500s and I kept the pedal to the metal.  Not interesting hands, but a lot of squeezing to great effect and when I did get heads up a chunky turn bet or a river bomb were getting the job done.  It's hard to call off for your tournament life, even when you have top pair.

Happy to have lots of Red 5K chips in my life!

Two table play lasted a lot shorter than three table play - we redrew for the final table just before the third break.   

For the first time I played with a guy who was the tournament chip leader - by A LOT.   

I had no interest in min-cashing.  I think they were paying 4 people and I ended up finishing 4th for $340 after my JJ got run down by the chip leaders AQ.   He saw me play enough hands prior that he had zero problem beating me into the pot when I 3 bet jammed over his open.

Yes, the picture below does look a bit like ICM suicide - you can see the micro stack in the distance and another smaller one on my right.  

But we are talking about pay jumps in the hundreds, not the thousands - and I really wanted the sexy mini-trophy they had waiting for the winner.  It would've meant a lot more than $300-$800 more dollars in my pocket ever could.  

Poker is not my occupation, it's my passion. 

Also, I understand that in a super turbo - flips are everything.  I was ecstatic to get all my chips in against the best player in the tournament (besides me frankly) as the 60 in a 60/40.

So I was out, pocketed my $250+ profit and promptly sat down at a different table than Michele in the single $2 blind match the stack buy in cash game.

Once again I'd bought in for $400 and I chipped up to $550 right away in about an hour.  The entire table was older than me and I was in heaven.

Alas the rest of the session would not be as good as I had thought it might be after I'd won my first few hands.

While I was up I recorded hands - this was the last one that I won of any size...

I opened to $15 from MP with A10o over one limper (probably could've should've made it $20).  One guy on my left flat called, limper defended.   Flop was 88Q rainbow, so I was done but it checked through.  Turn was 7x, I check called a $10 bet by V to my left.  Limper folded. River was a king, I did something that I rarely do - I led out with a third sized pot bet.  I got a frustrated sigh and a fold.  Yay.

A lone highlight of the cash session.

I played for another 5 hours (after a 3 hour tournament).   

Took a $200 hit when my QJ got run down by Q8 who filled up on the river - I had flopped two pair.  That was fun.

Lost another sizable pot when a sticky, and younger Villain called my pot sized bet on the river with second pair.  Not fun, but kind of my own fault as my line was a bit wonky.

In the end, I was in for $500 and out for $100.  My tournament profit was erased and I was down over $185 overall for the trip in poker.

Worst of all, I barely got to play with Michele.  My notes are sparse on this second day (as I was losing) and I only dimly remember her joining my table about midway through my session.   She also didn't have the best day, though she never had to top off when I was playing with her.

I couldn't help but be disappointed that I was down so much - though in a game of this size it wasn't an above average loss by any means.  I'd watched enough poker vlogs to know this.  But it stung all the same because when I sat down and got paid so handsomely on my first winning hand I just assumed that I was at a soft table and the rest of the day would be similar.

Well, one thing I now realize at the cash game table - the player dynamic can change lightening fast.  All it takes is a couple of soft-spots to rack up and a couple of  decent regs to sit down, and that's pretty much what happened.

So once again I retired to my room, at about 9pm or so, and indulged in a lovely room service burger with perfectly salted fat fries.   A definite highlight to the afternoon and evening.

Still, I awoke the next day refreshed and ready to go - another tournament at noon and then my last session of cash before escaping to the mountains with my good friends from grade school for our belated 50th birthday celebration.   Was very much looking forward to the poker day and the hiking escapades as well.

Stay tuned for the third and final chapter!