Friday, November 29, 2019

Running Aces Minnesota Trip report

Yeah i desperately needed to get out of deadwood after blowing $3000 taken out of my 3 bank accounts twice within a 72 hour period. i cannot believe i had over $24,000 when i left detroit, and have $14,000 (maybe slightly less now). how can i go thru that much of my roll so quickly when i need the money so bad for steady housing somewhere and enough left over to work with? its been a long time now since the roll has been this short, and everyday or 2 about 1% disappears on hotel costs and Lyft costs.

Originally i was scheduled to be somewhere a lot further east by now, but things happen. i didnt purchase a ticket to minneapolis, i purchased a ticket to somewhere else much further east. but this was my transfer point out of rapid city. and the plane was delayed due to mechanical issues and wouldnt fly out of Rapid thursday night as planned. so Delta put me (and about 6 other passengers) up at the Cambria suites hotel in rapid city and gave us meal vouchers. and also the pilots were staying there. everyone rode in the same shuttle to the hotel.

so i was able to eat a nice thanksgiving dinner that night after all. Mom asks me about that every Thanksgiving.

now today, the good news was the pilots found out the plane had gotten repaired by the crew that drove up there of mechanics all the way from denver to fix the plane. so we left rapid city right on time at 7am and got to minneapolis. but i didnt arrive in time to make my connection originally scheduled, so they were going to put me on a plane later that day, but i told them i preferred the nonstop one flying out tomorrow instead, so they let me take one for tomorrow morning instead. (when the real reason i wanted to wait til tomorrow was so i could visit running aces casino which id never been to before). i heard it had good omaha games and better and more choices of spread limit games than Canterbury which i understood to be almost nothing but fixed limit games.

so i got me a Lyft, found a motel, (overpriced) and took my stuff to the hotel, then found a banks atm machine, and then went to the casino. let me be the first to say i didnt play any VBJ here because they pay 6-5 instead of $3-2 even though the minimum bet is $1. in fact the casino has no slot machines at all. just a few Video poker and video blackjack. and a huge selection of live BJ.

so i stuck to playing nothing but poker today. and i started off playing $2 small blind $4 big blind $40 minimum buyin no cap max buyin spread limit omaha high. $20 maximum bet, $4 minimum. most people bet the whole $20, particularly post flop. i thought it would be a great omaha game for a short bankroll because there was so much action, u could easily quadruple up or better every pot u win.

even the $2-100 spread limit games use $2 chips instead of $5s and $1s and it sure feels weird, as did the omaha, but in the omaha at least its for blinds. its probably to get the dealer a lot bigger tips, and of course, so the pot looks bigger and the players wont notice the immediate $2 taken out of $6 pots on the flop for the bad beat. which is weird, usually the rake is whats taken out on the flop.

but here on a $6-8 pot, its $0 for the rake and $2 for the BBJ.

if u take it down preflop, its both NO rake and NO BBJ, which is good.

not a soul mentioned knowing about my blog, which is good. so as far as i know i played semi anonymously. and i won $16 in the $2-100 but certainly didnt feel like a winner since id lost $120 in the omaha before i sat when they broke the game 4 handed (which is when the game turns fun because its short enough where i might actually win a pot but of course the other players dont want the game to be more fun, they just want a 9 handed table). and here u can ONLY straddle UTG.

and the other reason i didnt feel like a winner is because i had my $50 buyin up to $325 once, and then suddenly started giving it all back very quickly. eventually i quit with $66, thinking if i dont hurry up and return to my hotel i wont wake up in time for tomorrows flight.

and then i couldnt get a Lyft driver for nothing the weather had turned really bad outside and will only get worse tomorrow. my plane might get canceled again. after about a whole hour i FINALLY got a driver. this is so far north of Minneapolis there just isnt the drivers in horrible weather.

i wonder if i wouldve had better and cheaper results booking a hotel, and finding a driver, had i played at Canterbury? most likely. but then no $4-20 omaha high.

there was also a game of $300 min buyin with a ton of deep stacks full of green chips too high for me since i blew all my money on VBJ in deadwood, otherwise it wouldnt have been too high. it was $100 max bet omaha high with $5-5 blinds. i didnt play.

so i sat back down when i couldnt get a driver, and there is a bus but it runs like once a day early in the morning, its a park and ride bus for the morning commute that only makes a morning run and an off work run instead of a regularly scheduled bus. so if someone lived here there would have to use it weird hours or only take it one way and use Lyft to get home.

i looked around and seen some BJ tables played 6-5 and some 3-2 on the live BJ. probably most were 6-5, especially the live $2 ones. didnt play however.

and when i sat back down with $40 in the omaha, i finally got a driver while they were delivering my chips and i was relieved. he was about 15 minutes out. and i won a big pot allin on my $40 buyin while waiting the 15 minutes. so i cashed out $200 and got even

i had KKA8 and made it $24 preflop and bet the last $16 (actually called the last $16) on a flop of KQ4 with 2 clubs and i had no clubs. turn comes 3 and i pick up the king high heart flush draw along with my set of kings. too bad i was out of chips. river comes 5 for possible straight but luckily neither of the 2 guys still in had it.

but 5 seen the flop so i got my $200 from the $40.

i think Ray would do well in that omaha game and i couldve gotten a cheap airbnb for a month for less than $1300 in stillwater which is a $28 uber fare each way. way too much without him being here with a car for me to book. and that would be a very safe nice suburb way outside the city in which to live if i knew how to drive. its the ONLY game appropriate for his roll.

also agsweep told me the hotel had an airport shuttle but they dont. they said they havent in about 4 years. i wonder if one of the other 3 motels same name closer to town have it. i sure wish it did, wouldve solved a big problem. ive gotten mad before when hotels advertise this and dont offer it anymore.

they charge for bottled water here, but the good news is the ice water, pop and coffee is sitting out where anyone can pick it up. and my food comps of $9 got put on immediately so i could use it before i left.









Monday, November 25, 2019

not such good news, and i really dont belong here in deadwood

If Corey has wondered why i havent been in Cadillac Jacks every time theres poker since coming to deadwood, truth is im just as lazy as Ray is about driving to Detroit. its a long 1-2 mile walk in cold weather and i dont want to sit around outside waiting for a trolley, nor do i want to get charged for a cab. and ive been losing so heavily in the bigger games id just as soon play VBJ. why go to deadwood to play poker?

all 3 times i played the bigger game this week i lost almost $1000 or a bit more than that. i know i should go over this afternoon though, because of all the promotions going on. but im no longer ahead at poker since coming to deadwood. im stuck a bunch now. and im back down in the $22,000s again. at one point early on, i was up over $1800 for poker in deadwood.

i dont really know if im playing good or bad in the $5-5 blinds game and the $5-10 blinds game and some of the players might not be as bad as originally thought. i know Mike Campbell isnt nearly as bad as Dustin thought. and Dustin is probably right about the mandatory winner of the pot straddle not hurting my short $200 stack, but we both agree that making it mandatory UTG instead would be much better for the action. at least then its worth stealing blinds. whats the point in stealing blinds if u have to put it right back in as a straddle? This is why he told me he would often fold as high of hands as JJ in that spot.

i still do better on the VBJ in the Bullock (the only one of its kind i know of that still exists in the USA) than on the one in the DMG and Dustin is probably right about the one in the DMG cheating as often as it has a 10 as the dealers upcard every time u make $100 bets. the way its cheating is anytime it has both a high card and a low card, it turns up the high card (instead of randomly) and this forces u to always hit and bust when u wouldnt if it had the low card up.

ive also been told that the company that owns the VBJ in the Bullock was bought out by a garbage company which we know is Mafia controlled. all garbage companies are and this has been known for years by those into organized crime.

now last night one of the biggest assholes in the $5-5 game whose normally a heavy loser and who was bitching about not giving out a tip (i think it was about the only time all night i didnt give a tip on a big pot) but i was stuck over $600 by that time, and had i tipped everytime someone else wanted me to, id be spending 10k a year on tips instead of 5k and my roll wouldve been reduced to zero a long time ago. Had i spent only $1000 less per year on tips over the course of the last 25 years id have an extra $25k or more in my bankroll today. and id be a much more pleasent person to get along with at the table with all that extra money and less stress had i simply given out a few less tips over my life.

i had 55 and the flop comes 764 with 2 spades and it got checked around to me. theres about $60-80 in the pot from preflop and i shouldve checked here instead i bet $75, but didnt want to give free cards. but i open myself up to get check raised too much. Dustin says i need to stop continuation betting so much.

i got reraised $100 more by the guy who hates me, who usually loses heavily. turn comes 8 and he checks and i bet the $200 max bet allowed. river comes 6 and he bets which puts me allin for around $160 more. then he says youre good, right before he turns over the full house. he had 67

earlier Mike Campbell cost me a big pot because i seen a flop with KQ suited, there was a small raise or maybe a straddle and quite a few of us seen the flop. flop comes KQ7 and i bet $185 allin. he has AK and shouldve went $385. but he only called and the loose player decided to call $185 too with 34 of hearts. 10 of hearts on the turn gives him the flush and finally Mike decides to bet but its too late. so Mike lost the pot too. had he knocked him out, i wouldve won.

and another pot, i had K7 of hearts and the flop came AK7. i bet, the guy who hates me called, maybe someone else too i dont remember. i made a bigger sized bet, dont remember the exact amount. turn comes offsuit 6. i bet $125, he made it $275, and sure enough, he has A6. i didnt like to slowplay my 2 pair on the flop because i worry another ace will come and i get paid, or be counterfeited later in the hand. instead of putting it all on the table at once i kept rebuying $200 and one time i added on for $100 when i wasnt entirely broke til i had the whole $900 out there eventually after a few hours.

most of this was written a day or two ago, but its finally ready to publish. im still holding around $22,500 which is quite worrisome compared to my usual roll and much needed expenses to be taken care of soon. but at least tonight i finally won $115 in poker. i know i didnt put in nearly enough hours and wouldve been much better off playing yesterday during all the good promotions every other sunday, but hey a win is a win. had i not lost a pot on the river when up about $170, id have not quit the game so soon. i worked hard for that win, had to call a $6 straddle, a $21 raise, and then stay in all the way to the river to make 2 pair on the end with 64 suited.






Sunday, November 17, 2019

return to deadwood

I didnt exactly notice til just now, its been 13 whole days since i last updated the blog, which is kind of a record id think. does anyone have any ideas what poker tracking application to use on an android phone? since i lost my iphone, i havent officially kept any records, although i can tell im up over $1800 for poker in deadwood, though ive lost far more than that on the VBJ machines. still holding somewhat less than $22,500.

if i had a large roll, the proper thing would be to play nothing but the higher stakes poker games in deadwood on wednesday, and on weekends. $5-10 on wednesday $300 cap bet and $500 minimum buyin, and $200 cap bet and $200 minimum buyin with $5-5 blinds (and often a mandatory winner straddles the pot) on weekends. those games u can make over $1000 a week in. but im mostly just playing the smaller game.

ive looked around at the cost of airbnb in montana, (several cities) and the cost for Spokane, but i should probably fly south.

theres just not enough poker going on here the rest of the time, and being limited as to who i can use for a cab makes me afraid to get a place in Lead for the winter instead of in deadwood.

i wish id went to a good place for poker immediately upon leaving scottsdale, for the drop in detroit and in Vegas really hurt me. i was somewhat over 24 when i left grand rapids MI and i briefly had it up to close to 27 here in deadwood before some big drops on the VBJ.

Dustin too has had lots of big drops here in deadwood on the VBJ and we've been wondering if theyre somehow rigged here. but he is making a fortune most of the time in the higher limit poker games and unlike me, he wanted the mandatory straddle. i didnt want to so all the other players moved to a new table and started a new game with a mandatory straddle without me. and Danny let them do it after some initial resistance. (he is the guy who works underneath Corey when he is gone). When i told Dustin about it, he decided he wanted to play because of the straddle. he says it benefits instead of hurts a tight shortstack like me.

Corey hooked me up with a good deal on a hotel for saturday and i spent a few other nights at the silverado so id be in deadwood and not Lead. and then im still not used up quite all the 4 nights at the DMG free that i couldnt do on a saturday.

i need ideas on cities to go and play poker, primarilarly it might be a good idea for somewhere new, preferably where id be able to play poker anytime and avoid BJ. I feel ive made a lot of mistakes and mismanaged money badly since leaving Scottsdale.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Im a horrible PLO deepstacked player

Going to Detroit hasnt really worked out so well, im out over $4500 between what i gave Ray, what i spent on a motel for a week, and what ive spent on Uber fees. and the $532 i lost on video blackjack and the $3000 plus i lost on pot limit omaha. today i broke the ice and finally won again $180 total, by not playing anything but $1-2 NL. i came here because i thought with 30k id finally have enough to handle the live variance in PLO with $200 min buyins. but i guess i was wrong. on my previous visits to detroit, i played a lot more NL than PLO because most of the time my roll was only about 12k-18k and i thought, well this time i might finally be adequately staked. Shouldnt 100 plus buyins be enough? maybe i shouldnt have been buying in $600-800 once stuck 3-4 buyins. i dont think i play a deep stack near as well as a short stack in ANY game and all it does is add to the variance.

For an example of possible deepstacked errors, heres a hand.

about 4-5 of us see a limped pot for $5. i have AK96 single suited, with the K9 of diamonds. flop comes AK7 rainbow with the ace of diamonds. i bet $25 once a couple check to me. and get 2 callers. turn comes 10. new guy in seat 1 checks, who i dont recognize (theres several who play often) and he just came from a must move table. i bet $100. the loose black guy whose action goes allin for $185 in seat 5 after i bet. im in seat 3. seat 1 check raises to $500, and ive got a tough decision to make. i now have 4 to the nut flush draw since the 10 was a diamond. plus ive still got top 2 pair, but im worried hes got the straight. i finally call since ive got about $350 or so behind to bet the river for implied odds if i hit. river comes a small unconnected card offsuit and i fold when he bets me allin. then he shows (for the side pot) KT for nothing but 2 pair. i folded for $360 more for a pot of $1400 or so.

the black guy scoops the main pot since i folded, with two pair, aces and sevens. so id have won it all.

i think the fact the button straddle makes the small blind act first here screws it up too and makes winning tougher in detroit. its not just the extra $1-2 in rake every pot. im used to it being in the other order, and acting first a lot ruins my positional edge.

another big deepstacked pot a couple days before cost me a lot of money too. i had $1050 in front of me and was only needing about $400 more to be even for the night. we all put in about $45 preflop and i dont remember how many seen the flop. flop is AQ9 and we all checked. turn comes J and i got the nut straight. i have no redraw though. guy in the middle of the table bets whose first to act for $205. i go allin for $1005 and i hesitate because i wonder if i should wait for a safe card on the river, or to get out the 2 other guys who are behind me or at least make them pay to draw, both of whom have over $500 left. i get called by only the original better, who has the same straight, and rivers an improvement to a flush to scoop me.

and ive lost so much im wondering where to go. my hotel ends on wednesday i paid for, and Ray is broke the rest of the month and wont be driving to detroit. he no longer has access to credit and also lost the stake. and he doesnt want to cost me anymore money. to catch a bus both ways everyday is still about $50 a day counting Uber. so me living here wouldnt work out so well.

where should i go? the motor home i lived in reno is now booked up til december of 2020 over a year away. atlantic city and deadwood suck for poker where the cost of rooms is more reasonable now that its winter. southern florida is starting to go way up in price, though live BJ is banned there in most of the casinos. in reno its too easy to play $1 machine blackjack and i actually won very little there at poker, but i can no longer view my records since my iphone got stolen in vegas at samstown.

i do remember though, that even though my hourly in all games combined this year was over $18 for about 1900 hours of play, my $1-2 hourly is barely about 7-8. especially when the sample size was large. and now im no longer keeping records until one of u suggests a good one for the android phone. for poker income is much more different there than the iphone app and i dont understand it like i did the old app.

also i broke the screen on my phone and as broke as i am, ill just let it go for awhile. more important uses for money.

and the suggestion mickey once made about staying in OK, seems the NL game doesnt go everyday there like he thought. Ray called and asked how often it went. i cant return to talking stick because they banned me when they overpaid me $100 on a blackjack table. and they used my blog as an excuse as to why, and not for the overpayment which i returned. they said theyd gotten a lot of discussion among employees thru the corporate office back and forth all month wondering if they should ban me or not. but i mightve still been playing there today had they not overpaid me.

that was the only poker room i could win consistently at too. i still think i could beat PLO overall if i could find a casino i could buyin $100 and not $200 because id have so many more buyins. its amazing how 25-26k feels like nothing since i did have more. and also my housing costs are always well over $2000 a month compared to the old days, so it pretty much is nothing.