A day of cash games

I tried to play some cash games last night but the lists were so ridiculous I gave up. So today I went over the Bellagio and had lunch there and then started playing. I played a tiny bit of 30/60 while waiting for 5/10NL but I got seated pretty quickly. I'll post a few of the more interesting hands I played.

Hand 1:
There's an ep poster and it's folded to the CO who makes it 40. He's an oldish guy and based on how he looks he probably plays very straightforward. I call with TT. HU to the 543 two-heart flop and he check-calls 60. Turn 4 and he check calls 125. River heart, check check and AhJh is good.

Hand 2:
After losing that hand and another I only have about 600 on the table (max buy in is 1000). Two limpers, I limp 33, button makes it 60 and we all call. Flop's Ac5c4 and it's checked around. Turn 2, I bet 150, button raises to 450, I push for basically nothing more and he reluctantly calls and shows QQ.

I really didn't play many big pots at the Bellagio, I won a couple decent ones, then had a bunch of bluffs go badly. Was up as high as 2k and then all the way back down to about 800 with no showdowns.

Hand 3: Terrible player limps utg, one other limper, I limp QJ on the button. Flop JJ7. blinds check, and the second limper checks and I bet 40. Oops, turns out the bad player didn't check and while I was betting 40 he was betting out 30. So I guess that's a call...Turn's a 6 and he bets 60. He does this a lot, betting random amounts with random hands. He doesn't outright bluff often, and he is capable of folding to large bets. I decide to call. River's a 4 and he bets 100. I think he folds a lot of worse hands to a push, but he will call some kind of raise with way to many hands. I end up making it 300, he instacalls and shows a worse Q (Q8 I think).

Hand 4: I'm pretty sure I screwed this hand up, but I'm not sure how to play it. The table is semi-loose preflop but pretty tight postflop. One utg limper and I make it 60 with AA utg+1. Utg+2 who's solid cold calls. The bb calls and the utg limper calls. Flop is K54r. Checked to me and I check(?). Utg+2 bets 160 with about 800 behind. Folded to me and I call(?). Turn 3 and I check(?). He checks behind. River K and I check(?). He checks behind and my aces are good.

At this point I left the Bellagio because the game sucked and the one guy at the table was talking about how good the games at the rio were. So I took a cab over there are got seated at a 5/10 table pretty quickly. Right as I sit down, the guy two to my right says congratulations on your win in Atlantis, so I guess the whole table knows about that. Turns out he knows a friend of mine through playing on UB (Latif, polo says hi). Anyways, this table is alright and very friendly.

Hand 5: I'm definitely still adjusting to having such deep stacks. It's a little weird with big, but not huge hands. New guy sits down and posts in the bb, but doesn't realize he's posted and goes to fold his hand. We remind him and he takes his hand back. I raise Ad2d to 35, sb calls and he calls(?). Flop T4d3d. I bet 60 and the bb calls. Turn Td and he bets 200. I think for a while and call. River Q and he bets 400. I have about 900 total. I probably should have pushed here but I convinced myself that he could fold a crappy flush or just a T to a push. I call and he mucks.

Hand 6: I play a bunch of small pots and have about 2k in front of me. Guy to my right is the only one that covers. He's pretty tight and we've been talking a fair bit, but I think he's pretty good. Definitely good enough to make a big bluff in a good situation. He raises on the button to 35 and I call in the sb with 33. Flop 652 and I check-call 60. Turn 4, starting a backdoor flush. I bet 125. He grabs chips to call, grabs some extra chips, looks at me for a while and calls. River's an offsuit Q. I bet 250. He again grabs calling chips, grabs some more, looks at me and makes it 750. I am 99% sure he's not raising a set here. He has 87 or a bluff. I thought a lot about this one but I really think this is a fantastic spot for him to bluff. There have been no big pots at this table and we've been talking a fair bit. I call after a lot of though. He shows A7 with the bd flush draw and I rake a pretty huge pot.

I play a while longer and am definitely starting to get tired. I decide to play one more orbit...I wish I'd left...I played a couple hands very badly.

Hand 7: A couple limpers and I check in the bb with K3. Flop K83r. I lead 30, one call, next guy makes it 130. He hasn't been here long and hasn't done anything. He's got about 500 more behind. I think this is just a spot where I'm used to tournament players who will lose their stacks with top pair. I make a pretty awful reraise to 350, he pushes and I call the 150 more. 33 is good.

Hand 8: One limper and an aggressive guy makes it 45. He raises a fair bit, way more than anyone else at the table. He's also lost a couple huge pots and only has about 300 more behind. I've 3bet him twice, once he folded pf and I showed T5, the other he called and folded to my cbet on the 974 flop, I showed T2. Now I have JJ. I think calling is fine here but given I've reraised him light a couple times I think he may give action with some worse hands. I make it 155. Guy behind me who talks like he's crazy but I think just plays weird and a little too loosely pushes for something like 500 total. Folded back to me. I'm pretty sure he'd push AK there, and maybe occasionally AQs/TT, so I call. He has KK this time and I don't suck out.

So all told a pretty decent day, although a disappointing finish. The games weren't phenomenal but they were better than the few online NL games I've played. I might play some more cash games tomorrow or maybe the daily 1k tournament at the bellagio (or maybe even some satellites at the Rio, I've heard they're very soft).

Steve