Sunday: There were no travels involved for Flynn today so the magic carpet stayed in the parking garage: the plan was to play at the Aria for as long as the bankroll would endure. Uneventful, yet highly recommended. Flynn was seated at a new table (again, his fav), facing the TV so he could watch the games, and the beverage server immediately brought him a cup of drinkable coffee. Side note: While the Vdara has stove, microwave, fridge, and dishware, they still charge $20/day for a coffee maker; ergo F&O have been choking down instant coffee first thing in the am. Nasty, but necessary.
There Flynn stayed, through all 3 football games. The poker game was just right ~ a few good hands, a few rough hands, and very little controversy. In 9 hours the floor was called over three times, mostly to make mundane decisions. Flynn kept his headphones on, playlist set to ‘chill’, and that was it. For those who play ‘advanced’ poker, Flynn only puts headphones on for two reasons: 1. He is running bad and on severe tilt 2. The table is so quiet he can’t learn anything from the convo. <- if anyone opens their mouth he immediately takes ear-muff off so he can hear. Information is power.
Might as well give the good, the bad, and the unknown – hand breakdowns:
The Unknown: (Should really take hand-notes for the blog) Sometime 3-4 hours into the session, Flynn lost his initial buy-in. Oddly enough, he has not the foggiest idea how that happened, but it was probably when his stack was under $150, as he often will not shove / call an all-in for more than that unless he has the stone-cold nuts or a dead read on his opponent.
The Bad: Flynn lost $250 to a villain’s shove holding mid-pair, busted straight draw. Flynn was out of position, the villain had been calling everything in hands prior to this, and had shown a semi-bluff previously in exactly the same scenario. For realz, how bad does Flynn play sometimes? Obviously he lost to AA. Nice hand, sir. While this stung, it was not the end of the world, as by this time Flynn had made up his previous buy-in loss so he was basically back to starting – ish.
The good: Flynn has $700 on the table, having made a comeback from the re-buy. Cue Villian #2 (V2) who has never seen a hand he does not like, and who will bet out every-single-time if checked to him on any street. No exaggeration. He had mountains, although has lost a stack or two in the past hour as everyone at the table has figured him out. (Can’t get him to fold though, maybe once in every 20 river bets). Flynn has K9, likely suited. Flynn called V2’s pre-flop raise of ?$15 which was pretty standard for the table. Two clubs hit the board, J 9 10. There is one other player still in, sitting on V2’s left and he is short stacked (SS). V2 bets out $30-ish, maybe $35 (as well all knew he would). SS insta-shoves for a total of somewhere in the 70’s. Flynn had mid-pair, knows for certain that SS is on the club draw (Flynn has no clubs) and is facing an opponent (V2) who has him slightly out-chipped behind. Here is one of the floor calls: Flynn asks V2 to see his chip stacks, then asks the dealer if he can raise (Flynn knows he can shove). The dealer had to call the floor, because apparently math is hard for all of us, and figuring out the exact amount of the shove vs previous bets, blah blah blah. Floor comes over, rules that a raise is permissible – not the expected ruling, so cool – and Flynn is off to the brain game.
Thought process: V2 does not have Flynn out-chipped by much, likely near $100. Flynn is sitting on about $550, with 3 black chips and the rest in red. V2 has 2 black chips, and the rest of his in red stacks. This is important folks: V2, when facing a decision, always looks and counts out his $ with his red stacks. He is volume oriented, not $ oriented, at least initially. If he is super-strong, he will insta-call anything, including Flynn’s shove. If he is just fairly strong (2 pr/top pr w/kicker/nut flush draw) he will take time to think and maybe fold depending on his opponent. (Flynn has not played a hand in 20+ minutes, as he has been ‘watching the football game’. ) If V2 is not at all strong, he will think for about 10 seconds and fold to any bet over $100. <- this is why observation is so important.
Flynn announces ‘raise’, then takes his time. He looks again at V2’s stack. He finally announces $375, putting in all his red, and and two black. If V2 is real strong, he can shove and Flynn can fold with $ left to play again. If V2 is med-strong, he has a decision to make. If he is weak, he will fold. V2 tanks. This is good for Flynn. We have seen him call such bets for more with draws or top pair. We have a 50/50 shot at being good right now. We still don’t like those odds, and don’t want him to call. We want to isolate the SS and let the chips fall where they may. Don’t want the big sweat, we just want the little sweat.
Sure enough, V2 cuts out the red chips & fiddles with them. This is all of them plus additonal – he would have to crack a black chip to make up about $10. Heh Heh Heh. Flynn so sneaky, We can see him thinking. V2 could shove his remaining, but if he lost… or he could keep his ‘mountains’ and fold… or he could just call, but he would only have a few actual chips : 1 black chip and less than a stack of red… his head starts smoking. It was awesome. 2 minutes later, V2 folds.
Turn, River, and Results: Turn – red X, river – red 10 . Flynn wins the pot against the club flush draw (we knew it). V2 goes ballistic – he had flopped 2 pair and would have boated up. Either way he would have won it all. Except he didn’t.
This is why live play is not the same as on-line, folks.
BTW, we ended up -$10 today. Bright side, ate on comps, had plenty of beverage service and tipped well. Ahead of the game.
Fin
Flynn
I love your thought process! This is what attracts me to poker but I don’t play enough to learn behavior. Great job as to me that’s the fun of the game. V2 had it coming, lol.